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HAIFA 


OR 

* 

LIFE  IN  MODERN  PALESTINE 


/ 

By  LAURENCE  OLIPHANT 


AUTHOR  OF 

“THE  LAND  OF  GILEAD”  “ALTIORA  PETO”  “riCCADILLY”  ETC. 


EDITED,  WITH  INTRODUCTION 

By  CHARLES  A.  DANA 


NEW  YORK 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  FRANKLIN  SQUARE 

1887 


Copyright,  1886,  by  Charles  A.  Dana. 


All  rights  reserved. 


PREFACE. 


The  expectations  which  have  been  excited  in  the 
minds  of  men  by  the  prophecies  contained  in  Scripture, 
and  the  hopes  which  have  been  roused  by  them,  have 
ever  invested  Palestine  with  an  exceptional  interest  to 
Biblical  students ;  while  its  sacred  conditions,  historical 
associations,  and  existing  remains  prove  an  attraction  to 
crowds  of  pilgrims  and  tourists,  who  annually  flock  to 
the  Holy  Land.  As,  however,  the  impressions  of  a  resi¬ 
dent  and  those  of  a  visitor  are  apt  to  differ  widely  in 
regard  to  the  conditions  which  actually  exist  there,  and 
the  former  has  opportunities  of  researches  denied  to  the 
latter,  I  have  ventured  to  think  that  a  series  of  letters 
originally  addressed  to  the  Hew  York  Sun,  and  extend¬ 
ing  over  a  period  of  three  years  passed  in  the  country, 
might  not  be  without  interest  to  the  general  reader. 
Many  of  these  will  be  found  to  deal  chiefly  with  archaeo¬ 
logical  subjects,  which  must,  indeed,  form  the  main  sub¬ 
ject  of  attraction  to  any  one  living  in  the  country,  and 
conversant  with  its  history. 

A  flood  of  light  has  been  thrown  of  recent  years  upon 
its  topography,  its  ancient  sites,  and  the  extensive  ruins 
which  still  exist,  to  testify  to  its  once  teeming  popula¬ 
tion,  by  the  prolonged  and  valuable  researches  of  the 
“  Palestine  Exploration  Fund  ”  of  London. 


IV 


PREFACE. 


As,  however,  these  are  embodied  in  volumes  so  ex¬ 
pensive  that  they  are  beyond  the  reach  of  the  general 
public,  and  are  too  technical  in  their  character  to  suit  the 
taste  of  the  ordinary  reader,  I  have  in  many  instances 
endeavored  to  popularize  them,  availing  myself  extensive¬ 
ly  of  the  information  that  they  contained,  and  quoting 
freely  such  passages  as  tended  to  the  elucidation  of  the 
subject  under  consideration,  more  especially  with  regard 
to  recent  discovery  at  Jerusalem. 

The  experience  and  investigation  of  the  last  three 
years,  however,  has  only  served  to  convince  me  that  the 
field  of  research  is  far  from  being  exhausted,  and  that, 
should  the  day  ever  come  when  excavation  on  a  large 
scale  is  possible,  the  Holy  Land  will  yield  treasures  of 
infinite  interest  and  value,  alike  to  the  archaeologist  and 
the  historian. 


Haifa,  1886. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGS 

Introduction . vii 

A  Visit  to  Ephesus . 1 

The  Ruins  of  Athlit . 6 

A  Jewish  Colony  in  its  Infancy . 11 

The  Temple  Society . 17 

The  Temple  Colonies  in  Palestine . 22 

Exploring  Mount  Carmel . 27 

The  Valley  of  the  Martyrs . 33 

The  RocK-nEWN  Cemetery  of  Sheer  Abreik . 38 

Easter  among  the  Melchites . 43 

The  Jewish  Question  in  Palestine . 48 

“Holy  Places”  in  Galilee . 53 

Progress  in  Palestine . 59 

Tnu  First  Palestine  Railway . 63 

Safed . 68 

Meiron . 72 

The  Feast  of  St.  Elias . 77 

A  Summer  Camp  on  Carmel . 82 

The  Druses  of  Mount  Carmel . 87 

Exploration  on  Carmel . 93 

A  Place  Famous  in  History . 98 

The  Bars  and  their  Prophet . 103 

An  Ancient  Jewish  Community . 108 

Domestic  Life  among  the  Syrians . 114 

Fishing  on  Lake  Tiberias . 119 

A  Visit  to  the  Sulphur  Springs  of  Amatha . 125 

Exploration  of  the  Valley  of  the  Yarmuk  .  . . 130 

Exploration  on  the  Yarmuk . 135 

A  Druse  Religious  Festival . 139 

The  Great  Festival  of  the  Druses . 145 

IIattin  and  Irbid . 152 

The  Jewish  Feast  of  the  Burning  at  Tiberias . 157 

House-building  on  Carmel . 162 

Domestic  Life  Among  the  Druses . 168 


VI 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Circassian  Highwaymen.  —  A  Druse  Festival  at  Elijah’s 

Altar . 173 

Armageddon.— The  Bosnian  Colony  at  Caesarea . 178 

Caesarea . 186 

Village  Feuds . 192 

The  Aristocracy  of  Mount  Carmel . 198 

The  Jordan  Valley  Canal . 204 

Local  Politics  and  Progress . 208 

The  Identification  of  Ancient  Sites . 213 

The  Sea  of  Galilee  in  the  Time  of  Christ . 218 

The  Scene  of  the  Miracle  of  the  Five  Loaves  and  Two 

Small  Fishes . 223 

Capernaum  and  Chorazin . 228 

Discovery  of  an  Ancient  Synagogue . 233 

Characteristics  of  the  Ruins  of  Synagogues . 239 

A  Night  Adventure  Near  the  Lake  of  Tiberias  ....  244 

Khisfin . 250 

Further  Exploration  and  Discovery . 256 

The  Place  where  the  Saviour  Sent  the  Evil  Spirits  into 

the  Herd  of  Swine . 262 

The  Rock  Tombs  of  Palestine . 268 

General  Gordon’s  Last  Visit  to  Haifa . 274 

The  Convent  of  Carmel  versus  The  Town  of  Haifa  .  .  .  281 

Progress  even  in  Palestine . 285 

The  Recent  Discovery  of  Gezer . 290 

Traditional  Sites  at  Jerusalem . 296 

Traditional  Sites  at  Jerusalem. — Continued . 303 

Progress  in  Jerusalem . 309 

The  Three  Jerichos . 819 

Modern  Life  in  Palestine . 825 

Rambles  in  Palestine . 332 

Explorations  in  Palestine . 339 

Sacred  Samaritan  Records . 345 

The  Ten  Lost  Tribes . 352 

Researches  in  Samaria . 358 

A  Druse  Father’s  Vengeance . 364 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  chapters  which  compose  this  volume  originally  formed 
a  series  of  letters,  all  of  which  passed  through  my  hands.  I 
prepared  them  for  their  first  appearance  in  print,  and  cor¬ 
rected  the  proofs  afterwards.  Finally,  it  was  at  my  sugges¬ 
tion  and  advice  that  they  were  gathered  together  in  a  book. 

The  deep  interest  which  the  land  of  Palestine  possesses 
for  every  thoughtful  mind  makes  us  all  greedy  for  fresh 
and  truthful  information,  alike  concerning  its  present  con¬ 
dition  and  the  discoveries  which  new  researches  add  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  past.  From  this  point  of  view,  many  of 
the  pages  which  follow  are  of  exceeding  importance.  Every 
Christian  will  read  with  deep  attention  the  author’s  descrip¬ 
tion  of  the  present  state  of  places  connected  with  momentous 
events  of  New-Testament  history;  and  when,  as  in  the  pres¬ 
ent  instance,  the  traveller  and  investigator  is  one  whose 
judgment  and  whose  accuracy  may  be  entirely  relied  upon, 
the  value  of  the  report  surpasses  every  careless  estimate. 

It  is  with  this  feeling  that  I  have  urged  my  friend  to 
complete  his  work  for  publication,  and  with  this  feeling 
I  earnestly  commend  it  to  the  reader.  Nor  is  its  interest 
confined  to  historical  and  Biblical  questions  alone;  the  eth¬ 
nologist  examining  the  races  of  modern  Syria,  and  the  phi¬ 
losopher  contemplating  the  marvellous  processes  of  Asiatic 
transformation,  will  also  find  here  material  which  will  repay 
their  most  careful  study. 

C.  A.  Dana. 

New  York,  November,  1886. 


HAIFA. 


A  VISIT  TO  EPHESUS. 

Smyena,  Nov.  4,  1882.  —  There  are  two  ways  of  doing 
Ephesus  :  you  may  either  go  there  and,  like  the  Apostle, 
“fight  with  beasts,”  in  the  shape  of  donkeys  and  donkey 
boys,  or  you  may  wear  yourself  to  death  under  the  blazing 
sun,  alternately  scrambling  over  its  rocks,  and  sinking  ankle 
deep  in  the  mire  of  its  marshes.  In  old  days  it  was  an  easy 
two  days’  ride  from  Smyrna  to  Ephesus,  the  distance  being 
about  fifty  miles,  but  the  Smyrna  and  Aiden  Railway  speeds 
you  to  the  ruins  in  about  two  hours  now,  first  through  the 
romantic  little  gorge  from  whose  rocky  ledge  rises  the  hill 
crowned  by  the  ruined  castle  which  overlooks  the  town,  past 
a  modern  and  an  ancient  aqueduct,  the  latter  moss-grown 
and  picturesque,  with  its  double  sets  of  arches  rising  one 
above  the  other ;  through  orange  and  pomegranate  groves, 
and  vineyards  yellow  and  languishing  at  this  season  of  the 
year  from  the  drought ;  across  fertile  plains  from  which  the 
cereals  and  corn  crops  have  been  removed,  and  where  flocks 
of  sheep  and  goats  are  scattered  on  distant  hill  slopes,  or 
follow  in  long  lines  the  striking  figures  of  the  shepherds  in 
their  broad-shouldered  felt  coats  ;  past  the  black  tents  of  the 
Yourouks,  a  nomadic  tribe  of  Turcomans,  whose  kindred 
extend  from  here  to  the  great  wall  of  China,  and  who  vary 
their  pastoral  operations  from  one  end  of  Asia  to  the  other 
with  predatory  raids  upon  unsuspecting  travellers  ;  and  so 
on  into  a  wilder  country,  where  the  mountains  close  in  upon 
us,  and  the  Western  tourist  begins  to  realize  that  he  is  really 
in  Asia,  as  groups  of  grunting  camels,  collected  at  the  little 
railway  stations,  and  their  wild-looking  owners,  tell  of  jour¬ 
neys  into  the  far  interior,  and  excite  a  longing  in  his  Cock- 
1 


2 


HAIFA. 


ney  breast  to  emancipate  himself  from  the  guidance  of  Cook, 
and  plunge  into  the  remote  recesses  of  Asia  Minor  or  Kur¬ 
distan. 

As  we  approach  Ephesus  the  country  again  becomes  more 
fertile,  and  groves  of  fig-trees,  surpassing  all  preconceived 
notions  of  the  size  ordinarily  attained  by  these  trees,  reveal 
one  of  the  principal  sources  of  supply  of  those  “  fine  fresh 
figs”  which  find  their  way  in  such  abundance  to  American 
railway  cars.  As  the  modern  Ephesus  is  a  miserable  little 
village,  containing  only  a  few  huts  and  a  very  limited  sup¬ 
ply  of  donkeys,  the  wary  traveller  will  see  that  his  are  sent 
on  from  Smyrna  beforehand,  and  will  probably  find  some 
consolation  for  the  absence  of  any  competent  guide  or  de¬ 
cent  accommodation,  or  appliances  for  seeing  the  ruins,  in 
the  evidence  which  this  fact  affords  of  the  comparative 
rareness  of  tourist  visitors. 

So  far  from  being  assailed  by  shouts  for  backsheesh,  or 
bombarded  by  sellers  of  sham  antiques,  or  struggled  for  by 
rival  guides,  one  is  left  entirely  to  one’s  own  devices  on  that 
desolate  little  platform.  There  is  an  apology  for  a  hotel, 
it  is  true,  where  cold  potted  meats  are  to  be  obtained,  and, 
by  dint  of  much  searching,  a  guide,  himself  an  antique,  turns 
up,  but  we  are  very  sceptical  of  his  competency.  A  row  of 
columns  still  standing,  which  once  supported  an  aqueduct, 
and  the  crumbling  ruins  of  a  castle  on  a  conical  little  hill 
immediately  behind  the  railway  station,  suggest  the  mis¬ 
taken  idea  that  these  are  the  ruins  of  Ephesus.  They  are 
very  decent  ruins,  as  ruins  go,  but  the  castle  is  a  compara¬ 
tively  modern  Seljiik  stronghold,  and  there  is  nothing  cer¬ 
tain  about  the  antiquity  of  the  aqueduct.  In  exploring  the 
castle  we  find  that  the  blocks  of  stone  of  old  Ephesus  have 
been  built  into  its  walls,  and  that  a  still  more  ancient  gate¬ 
way,  dating  from  the  early  period  of  the  Byzantine  Em¬ 
pire,  is  also  largely  composed  of  these  antique  fragments, 
upon  which  inscriptions  are  to  be  deciphered,  proving 
that  they  formed  part  of  a  Greek  temple.  So,  in  the 
old  mosque  of  Sultan  Selim,  which  is  at  the  base  of  the 
hill,  we  find  that  the  magnificent  monolith  columns  of  a 
still  more  ancient  edifice  have  been  used  in  the  construc¬ 
tion  of  what  must  in  its  day  have  been  a  fine  specimen 


A  VISIT  TO  EPHESUS. 


3 


of  Saracenic  architecture;  but  we  have  not  yet  reached  the 
site  of  ancient  Ephesus.  As  we  stand  on  the  steps  of  the 
old  mosque  we  look  over  a  level  and  marshy  plain,  about  a 
mile  broad,  which  extends  to  the  foot  of  two  rocky  hills, 
each  about  two  hundred  feet  high,  and  divided  from  each 
other  by  what  appears  to  be  a  chasm.  Behind  these  is  a 
higher  ridge,  backed  by  the  mountain  chain.  It  is  on  these 
two  rocky  eminences,  and  on  their  farther  slopes,  now  hid¬ 
den  from  view,  that  the  ancient  Ephesus  stood  ;  but  the 
problem  which  has  for  many  years  vexed  antiquarians  is  the 
site,  until  recently  undiscovered,  of  what  gave  the  town  its 
chief  notoriety. 

The  temple  of  the  great  goddess  Diana,  about  a  quarter 
of  the  way  across  the  plain,  was  a  Avide,  low  mound,  and  here 
it  is  that  the  recent  excavations  of  Mr.  Wood  have  laid  bare 
one  of  the  most  interesting  archaeological  discoveries  of 
modern  times.  We  eagerly  tramp  across  the  mud  and  over 
the  corn-stalks  of  this  year’s  crop  to  the  debris,  and,  climbing 
up  it,  look  down  upon  a  vast  depressed  area,  filled  with  frag¬ 
ments  of  magnificent  marble  columns,  and  with  carved  blocks 
on  which  are  inscriptions  so  fresh  that  they  seem  to  have 
been  engraved  yesterday,  all  jumbled  together  in  a  hopeless 
confusion,  but  from  amid  which  Mr.  Wood,  who  has  had  a 
force  of  three  hundred  men  excavating  here  for  the  three  pre¬ 
vious  years,  has  unearthed  many  valuable  memorials.  At  the 
time  of  our  visit  the  work  was  suspended  and  Mr.  Wood  was 
away,  nor  was  it  possible  to  obtain  from  the  utterly  dilapi¬ 
dated  old  Arab  who  called  himself  a  guide,  any  coherent  ac¬ 
count  of  the  last  results,  beyond  the  fact  that  a  ship  had 
come  to  take  them  away. 

I  made  out  one  inscription,  which  was  apparently  a  votive 
tablet  to  the  daughter  of  the  Emperor  Aurelius  Antoninus, 
but  in  most  cases,  though  the  engraving,  as  far  as  it  went,  was 
clear,  the  fragments  were  too  small  to  contain  more  than  a 
few  words.  In  places  the  marble  pavement  of  the  temple 
was  clearly  defined,  and  its  size  was  well  worthy  the  fame 
which  ranked  it  among  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world. 
From  here  a  long,  muddy  trudge  took  us  to  the  base  of  the 
hill,  or  mount,  called  Pion,  on  the  flank  of  which  is  the  cave 
of  the  Seven  Sleepers,  and  attached  to  it  is  the  well-known 


4 


HAIFA. 


legend  of  the  seven  young  men  who  went  to  sleep  here,  and 
awoke,  after  two  hundred  years,  to  find  matters  so  changed 
that  they  were  overcome  by  the  shock.  When  I  surmounted 
the  hill  and  looked  down  upon  the  Stadium,  the  Agora,  the 
Odeon,  and  other  ruins,  I  was  conscious  of  two  predominat¬ 
ing  sentiments.  One  was  surprise  and  the  other  disap¬ 
pointment;  surprise,  that  one  of  the  most  populous  and  cele¬ 
brated  cities  in  the  world  should  have  arisen  on  such  a  site; 
and  disappointment,  that  so  little  of  its  magnificence  re¬ 
mained. 

From  an  architectural  point  of  view  there  is  absolutely 
nothing  left  wmrth  looking  at.  Lines  of  broken  stone  mark 
the  limits  of  the  principal  buildings.  The  Stadium,  which 
accommodated  V6,000  persons,  and  one  of  the  theatres,  which 
accommodated  over  56,000,  are  almost  shapeless  mounds. 
The  whole  scene  is  one  of  most  complete  desolation,  and 
we  are  driven  to  our  imagination  to  realize  what  Ephesus 
once  must  have  been.  In  the  case  of  Palmyra  and  Baalbec 
no  such  effort  is  necessary;  enough  is  left  for  us  to  repeople 
without  difficulty  those  splendid  solitudes;  but  in  Ephesus 
all  is  savage  and  dreary  in  the  extreme;  deep  fissures  run  into 
the  rock,  which  must  have  formed  nearly  the  centre  of  the 
town  ;  huge  boulders  of  natural  stone  suggest  the  wild 
character  of  some  portion  of  the  city  in  its  palmiest  days. 
It  is  difficult  to  conceive  to  what  use  the  citizens  devoted 
this  Mount  Pion,  with  its  crags  and  caverns  and  fissures. 
The  lines  of  the  old  port  are  clearly  defined  by  the  limits 
of  a  marsh,  from  which  a  sluggish  stream,  formerly  a  canal, 
runs  to  the  sea,  about  three  miles  distant,  not  far  from  the 
debouchure  of  the  Meander.  No  doubt  the  mass  of  the  city 
surrounded  the  port,  but  there  is  a  marvellous  lack  of  debris 
in  this  direction.  Between  the  Temple  of  Diana  and  the  foot 
of  Mount  Pion  there  is  not  a  stone,  so  that  the  probability  is 
that  the  temple  was  situated  amid  groves  of  trees.  On  the 
hill  there  are  stones,  or,  rather,  rocks,  enough,  but  they  are 
of  huge  size,  and  for  the  most  part  natural.  Of  actual  city 
comparatively  few  remains  still  exist.  No  doubt  its  columns 
and  monuments  and  slabs  have  supplied  materials  for  the 
ornamentation  and  construction  of  many  cities,  and  the  con¬ 
venience  of  getting  to  it  by  sea  has  materially  aided  the 


A  VISIT  TO  EPHESUS. 


spoilers.  Still,  the  site  of  ancient  Ephesus  affords  abundant 
material  for  conjecture,  and  the  more  one  studies  the  local 
topography  the  more  difficult  is  it  to  picture  to  one’s  self  what 
the  ancient  city  wTas  like. 

From  historical  association  it  must  ever  remain  one  of  the 
most  interesting  spots  in  the  East,  while,  even  from  a  pure¬ 
ly  picturesque  point  of  view,  the  wild  and  rugged  grandeur 
of  the  scenery  amid  which  it  is  situated  cannot  fail  to  stamp 
it  upon  the  memory.  As  I  believe  it  is  intended  to  continue 
excavations,  we  may  hope  for  still  further  results,  and  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that,  when  once  the  obstacles  which  are 
now  thrown  in  the  way  by  the  present  government,  to  all 
scientific  or  antiquarian  research  in  Turkey,  are  removed  by 
the  political  changes  now  pending  in  the  East,  a  rich  field 
of  exploration  will  be  opened,  not  at  Ephesus  alone,  but 
throughout  the  little-known  ruined  cities  of  Asia  Minor. 


THE  RUINS  OF  ATHLIT. 


Haifa,  Nov.  27,  1882. — The  more  you  examine  the  coun¬ 
tries  most  frequented  by  tourists,  the  more  you  are  per¬ 
plexed  to  comprehend  the  reasons  which  decide  them  to 
confine  themselves  to  certain' specified  routes,  arranged  ap¬ 
parently  by  guides  and  dragomans,  with  a  view  of  conceal¬ 
ing  from  them  the  principal  objects  of  interest.  There  is 
certainly  not  one  tourist  in  a  hundred  who  visits  the  Holy 
Land  wdio  has  ever  heard  of  Athlit,  much  less  been  there, 
and  yet  I  know  of  few  finer  ruins  to  the  wrest  of  the  Jordan. 
To  the  east  the  magnificent  remains  of  Jerash,  Amman,  and 
Arak-el  Emir  are  incomparably  more  interesting,  and  these, 
of  course,  are  also  almost  ignored  by  tourists  ;  but  that  may 
be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  special  permission  from  the 
government  is  required  to  visit  them,  while  an  impression 
still  exists  that  the  journey  is  attended  with  some  risk. 
Practically  this  is  not  the  case.  It  takes  a  long  time  to  re¬ 
move  an  impression  of  this  kind,  and  it  is  the  interest  of  a 
large  class  of  persons  who  live  on  blackmail  to  keep  it  up. 
But  in  the  case  of  Athlit  there  is  no  such  drawback.  Prob¬ 
ably  the  neglect  with  wdiich  it  is  treated  is  due-largely  to  the 
fact  that  no  scriptural  association  attaches  to  the  locality, 
and  people  wTould  rather  go  to  Nazareth  than  examine  the 
majestia  remains  of  Roman  civilization,  or  the  ruder  super¬ 
structures  of  crusading  warfare. 

The  easiest  wTay  to  reach  Athlit  is  to  go  to  it  from  Car¬ 
mel.  As  the  monastery  there  is  a  most  modern  structure, 
about  fifty  years  old,  tourists  often  get  as  far  as  that,  be¬ 
cause  the  guide  takes  them  there;  but  they  know  nothing 
of  the  mysteries  of  this  sacred  mountain,  second  only  to 
Sinai,  in  the  estimation  of  the  modern  Jew,  in  the  sanctity  of 
its  reputation,  and  they  turn  back  when,  by  riding  a  few 
miles  down  the  coast,  they  would  follow  a  route  full  of  in- 


THE  RUINS  OF  ATHLIT. 


7 


terest.  The  road  traverses  a  plain  about  two  miles  in 
width.  On  the  left,  the  rugged  limestone  slopes  of  the 
mountain  are  perforated  with  caves — in  the  earliest  ages  of 
Christianity  the  resorts  of  hermits,  from  whom  the  order 
of  the  Carmelites  subsequently  arose.  Here  tradition  still 
points  out  the  spot  where  the  crusading  king,  St.  Louis  of 
France,  was  shipwrecked;  and  in  a  gorge  of  the  mountains 
may  still  be  seen  the  foundations  of  the  first  monastery,  near 
a  copious  spring  of  clearest  water,  where  the  pious  monarch 
was  entertained  by  the  first  monks,  whom,  out  of  gratitude, 
he  enabled  subsequently  to  establish  themselves  upon  the 
site  occupied  by  the  present  monastery,  and  to  found  an  or¬ 
der  which  has  since  become  celebrated.  Along  this  line  of 
coast  there  is  an  uninterrupted  stretch  of  sandy  beach,  upon 
which  the  full  force  of  the  Mediterranean  breaks  in  Ions: 
lines  of  rollers,  and  which  would  afford  an  interesting  field 
of  study  to  the  conchologist.  Among  the  most  curious 
shells  are  the  Murex  branclaris  and  the  Murex  trunculus ,  the 
prickly  shells  of  the  fish  which  in  ancient  times  yielded  the 
far-famed  Tyrian  purple.  The  Phoenicians  obtained  the 
precious  dye  from  a  vessel  in  the  throat  of  the  fish. 

Instead  of  following  closely  the  line  of  coast,  I  kept  near 
the  base  of  the  Carmel  range,  reaching  in  about  two  hours 
from  Carmel  the  village  of  El  Tireh,  where  the  mosque  is 
part  of  an  old  Benedictine  monastery,  the  massive  walls  of 
which  have  been  utilized  for  religious  purposes  by  the  Mos¬ 
lems.  Their  worship  has  had  little  effect  upon  the  inhab¬ 
itants,  who  are  the  most  notorious  thieves  and  turbulent 
rogues  in  the  whole  country  side.  They  are  rich  enough  to 
indulge  their  taste  for  violence  with  comparative  impunity, 
as  they  can  always  square  it  with  the  authorities.  Their  vil¬ 
lage  is  surrounded  with  a  grove  of  thirty  thousand  olive- 
trees  and  the  rich  plain,  extending  to  the  sea,  is  nearly  all 
owned  by  them.  Indeed,  their  evil  reputation  keeps  other 
would-be  proprietors  at  a  distance.  Here  the  plain  begins  to 
slope  backward  from  the  sea,  so  as  to  prevent  the  water 
from  the  mountains  from  finding  a  natural  outlet,  and  in 
summer  the  country  becomes  miasmatic  and  feverish. 

From  El  Tireh,  where  the  inhabitants  treated  me  with 
great  civility,  I  crossed  the  plain,  arid  in  an  hour  more 


8 


HAIFA. 


reached  an  insignificant  ruin  called  El  Dustrey,  a  corruption 
of  the  crusading  name  “les  Destroits  ,”  or  “The  Straights,” 
so  called  from  a  gorge  in  the  limestone  ridge,  which  here  sep¬ 
arates  the  plain  from  the  sea.  This  very  remarkable  forma¬ 
tion  extends  for  many  miles  down  the  coast.  It  is  a  rugged 
ridge,  varying  from  twenty  to  fifty  feet  in  height,  and  com¬ 
pletely  cutting  off  the  sea  beach  from  the  fertile  plain  be¬ 
hind.  Here  and  there  it  is  split  by  fissures,  through  which 
the  winter  torrents  find  their  way  to  the  sea.  Skirting  this 
ridge,  we  suddenly  come  upon  an  artificial  cutting,  just 
wide  enough  to  allow  the  passage  of  a  chariot.  At  the  en¬ 
trance,  holes  were  cut  into  the  rock  on  both  sides,  evidently 
used  in  ancient  times  for  closing  and  barring  a  passage-way. 
The  cutting  through  the  rock  was  from  six  to  eight  feet 
deep  and  from  sixty  to  eighty  yards  in  length.  The  deep 
ruts  of  the  chariot-wheels  were  distinctly  visible.  Here  and 
there  on  the  sides  steps  had  been  cut  leading  to  the  ridge, 
which  had  been  fortified. 

Passing  through  this  cutting,  we  debouch  upon  a  sandy 
plain  and  a  reedy  marsh,  in  which  my  companion  had  the 
year  before  killed  a  wild  boar;  and  here  we  were  in  the 
presence  of  a  majestic  ruin.  Immediately  facing  us  was  a 
fragment  of  wall,  eighty  feet  high,  sixteen  feet  thick,  and 
thirty-five  yards  long.  It  towers  to  a  height  of  one  hun¬ 
dred  and  twenty  feet  above  the  sea,  and  is  a  conspicuous 
landmark.  It  has  been  partially  stripped  of  the  external 
layer  of  carved  stone  blocks,  and  has  furnished  a  quarry  to 
the  inhabitants  for  some  centuries.  The  wTall  had  evidently 
once  continued  across  the  base  of  the  promontory  upon 
which  the  ancient  fortress  and  town  were  built.  Passing  up 
a  rocky  passage  and  under  an  archway  of  comparatively 
modern  date,  and  which  could  still  be  closed  by  means  of 
massive  wooden  doors,  we  enter  the  enceinte ,  and  discover 
that  the  whole  promontory  is  underlaid  with  huge  vaults. 
It  became  also  evident  that  the  immense  fragment  I  have  de¬ 
scribed  was  the  outer  wall  of  a  large  building,  for  on  the 
inside  were  three  ribbed,  pointed  arches,  supported  on  cor¬ 
bels,  representing  on  the  left  a  bearded  head,  on  the  right  a 
head  shaven  on  the  crown,  with  curling  hair  on  the  sides; 
in  the  centre  a  cantalever,  with  three  lilies  in  low  relief.  As 


THE  RUINS  OF  ATHLIT. 


9 


the  roof  had  fallen  in,  the  spring  of  the  arches  alone  re¬ 
mained.  The  whole  was  constructed  of  blocks  of  stone  about 
three  feet  long,  two  feet  high,  and  two  feet  wide.  The  prom¬ 
ontory  upon  which  all  this  solid  masonry  had  been  erected 
w^as  washed  on  three  sides  by  the  sea.  It  rose  above  it  pre¬ 
cipitously  to  a  height  of  about  fifty  feet.  The  area  was  occu¬ 
pied  by  a  miserable  population  of  possibly  a  hundred  squalid, 
half-clad  Arabs,  whose  huts  were  built  among  the  ruins,  thus 
preventing  any  effectual  examination  of  them.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  conceive  a  greater  contrast  than  is  presented  by 
these  wretched  fellahin  and  their  burrowing  habitations  with 
the  splendour  of  the  edifices  and  the  opulence  which  must 
have  characterized  the  former  inhabitants.  Here  and  there  we 
see  a  fragment  of  a  granite  column,  while,  when  we  reach  the 
brink  of  the  cliff  which  forms  the  sea-face  of  the  promontory, 
we  are  again  surprised  at  the  stupendous  scale  of  these  an¬ 
cient  works,  and  of  the  sea-wall  built  out  upon  a  ledge  of 
rocks,  exposed  to  the  full  fury  of  the  waves,  and  still  stand¬ 
ing  to  a  height  of  forty  or  fifty  feet. 

To  the  right  of  the  promontory,  a  wall,  the  base  of  which 
is  washed  by  the  waves,  is  perforated  by  three  arches.  It 
presents  a  most  picturesque  appearance.  The  southern  face 
is,  however,  the  most  perfect.  Here  there  were  evidently 
two  tiers  of  walls,  one  upon  the  sea-level  and  one  upon  the 
face  of  the  cliff.  Descending  into  the  space  between  these 
I  perceived  an  opening  in  the  side  of  the  rock,  and  found 
myself  in  a  vaulted  chamber,  which  was  sufficiently  lighted 
by  apertures  in  the  rock  for  me  to  measure  it  roughly.  I  es¬ 
timated  the  length  at  a  hundred  and  twenty  feet,  the  breadth 
at  thirty -six,  and  the  height  at  thirty.  It  so  happened 
that  on  the  occasion  of  my  visit  it  was  blowing  half  a  gale 
of  wfind  from  the  seaward.  The  breakers  were  rolling  in 
upon  the  reefs  at  the  base  of  the  promontory,  throwing 
their  spray  high  up  on  the  ruined  walls,  and  producing  an 
effect  which,  with  the  grandeur  of  the  surroundings,  was  in¬ 
describably  impressive.  This  chamber  was  the  handsomest 
of  a  series  of  vaults,  several  others  of  which  I  have  explored 
under  the  guidance  of  the  shiek,  by  means  of  candles  and 
torches.  They  are  altogether  six  in  number,  running  round 
a  rectangle  measuring  about  five  hundred  feet  by  three 


10 


HAIFA. 


hundred.  They  are  of  different  sizes,  varying  from  fifty  to 
three  hundred  feet  in  length,  from  thirty  to  fifty  in  breadth, 
and  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  in  height. 

The  name  of  the  town  which  stood  here  in  ancient  times 
has  never  been  discovered.  This  is  the  more  singular  as  it 
must  evidently  have  been  a  place  of  considerable  impor¬ 
tance  in  the  time  of  the  Romans,  more  probably  as  a  fortress 
than  as  a  place  of  commerce.  Its  natural  advantages  for 
defence  suggest  themselves  at  once.  It  is  important  in  the 
history  of  the  crusades  as  being  the  last  spot  held  in  Pales¬ 
tine  by  the  crusaders,  who  evacuated  it  in  1291.  It  was 
then  destroyed  by  the  Sultan  Melik  el  Ashraf,  so  that  the 
most  modern  parts  of  the  ruins  are  only,  six  hundred  years 
old.  But  the  crusaders  must  have  entered  into  possession 
of  what  was  then  an  ancient  fortress  in  a  high  state  of  pres¬ 
ervation.  When  they  took  it,  it  became  celebrated  as  Cas- 
tellum  Peregrinorum,  or  the  Castle  of  the  Pilgrims.  It  is 
also  spoken  of  in  the  crusading  records  as  Petra  Incisa, 
from  the  fact  that  it  was  entered  through  the  cutting  in  the 
rock  which  I  have  described.  In  1218  the  Knights  Tem¬ 
plars  restored  the  castle,  and  constituted  it  the  chief  seat  of 
their  order.  They  found  “  a  number  of  strange,  unknown 
coins.”  That  it  was  a  place  of  great  strength  may  be  in¬ 
ferred  from  the  fact  that  it  was  chosen  by  such  good  judg¬ 
es  as  the  Knights  Templars  as  their  chief  stronghold;  that 
it  was  successfully  besieged  by  one  of  the  sultans  of  Egypt, 
and  that  it  was  finally  abandoned  only  because  every  other 
crusading  possession  in  Palestine  had  succumbed. 


A  JEWISH  COLONY  IN  ITS  INFANCY. 


Haifa,  Dec.  10. — About  sixteen  miles  to  the  south  of  the 
projecting  point  of  Carmel,  upon  which  the  celebrated  mon¬ 
astery  is  perched  above  the  sea,  there  lies  a  tract  of  land 
which  has  suddenly  acquired  an  interest  owing  to  the  fact 
of  its  having  been  purchased  by  the  Central  Jewish  Coloni¬ 
zation  Society  of  Roumania,  with  a  view  of  placing  upon  it 
emigrants  of  the  Hebrew  persuasion  who  have  been  com¬ 
pelled  to  quit  the  country  of  their  adoption  in  consequence  of 
the  legal  disabilities  to  which  they  are  subjected  in  it,  and 
who  have  determined  upon  making  a  bona  fide  attempt  to 
change  the  habits  of  their  lives  and  engage  in  agricultural 
pursuits.  I  was  invited  by  the  local  agent  in  charge  of 
this  enterprise  to  accompany  him  on  a  visit  to  the  new 
property,  whither  he  was  bound  with  a  view  of  making  ar¬ 
rangements  for  housing  and  placing  upon  it  the  first  settlers. 
Traversing  the  northern  portion  of  the  fertile  plain  of  Sha¬ 
ron,  which  extends  from  Jaffa  to  Carmel,  we  enter  by  a 
gorge  into  the  lower  spurs  of  the  Carmel  range,  which  is 
distant  at  this  point  about  three  miles  from  the  seacoast, 
and,  winding  up  a  steep  path,  find  ourselves  upon  a  fertile 
plateau  about  four  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
Here  over  a  thousand  acres  of  pasture  and  arable  land  have 
been  purchased,  on  which  a  small  hamlet  of  half  a  dozen 
native  houses  and  a  storehouse  belonging  to  the  late  pro¬ 
prietor  compose  the  existing  accommodation.  This  hamlet 
is  at  present  occupied  by  the  fellahin  who  worked  the  land 
for  its  former  owner,  and  it  is  proposed  to  retain  their  ser¬ 
vices  as  laborers  and  copartners  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil 
until  the  new-comers  shall  have  become  sufficiently  indoc¬ 
trinated  in  the  art  of  agriculture  to  be  able  to  do  for  them¬ 
selves. 

The  experiment  of  associating  Jews  and  Moslem  fellahin 


12 


HAIFA. 


in  field  labor  will  be  an  interesting  one  to  watch,  and  the 
preliminary  discussions  on  the  subject  were  more  pictu¬ 
resque  than  satisfactory.  The  meeting  took  place  in  the 
storehouse,  where  Jews  and  Arabs  squatted  promiscuously 
amid  the  heaps  of  grain,  and  chaffered  over  the  terms  of 
their  mutual  copartnership.  It  would  be  difficult  to  im¬ 
agine  anything  more  utterly  incongruous  than  the  spectacle 
thus  presented — the  stalwart  fellahin,  with  their  wild, 
shaggy,  black  beards,  the  brass  hilts  of  their  pistols  project¬ 
ing  from  their  waistbands,  their  tasselled  kufeihahs  drawn 
tightly  over  their  heads  and  girdled  with  coarse  black 
cords,  their  loose,  flowing  abbas,  and  sturdy  bare  legs  and 
feet;  and  the  ringleted,  effeminate  -  looking  Jews,  in  caf¬ 
tans  reaching  almost  to  their  ankles,  as  oily  as  their  red  or 
sandy  locks,  or  the  expression  of  their  countenances — the 
former  inured  to  hard  labor  on  the  burning  hillsides  of 
Palestine,  the  latter  fresh  from  the  Ghetto  of  some  Rou¬ 
manian  town,  unaccustomed  to  any  other  description  of  ex¬ 
ercise  than  that  of  their  wits,  but  already  quite  convinced 
that  they  knew  more  about  agriculture  than  the  people  of 
the  country,  full  of  suspicion  of  all  advice  tendered  to  them, 
and  animated  by  a  pleasing  self-confidence  which  I  fear  the 
first  practical  experience  will  rudely  belie.  In  strange  con¬ 
trast  with  these  Roumanian  Jews  was  the  Arab  Jew  who 
acted  as  interpreter  —  a  stout,  handsome  man,  in  Oriental 
garb,  as  unlike  his  European  coreligionists  as  the  fellahin 
themselves.  My  friend  and  myself,  in  the  ordinary  costume 
of  the  British  or  American  tourist,  completed  the  party. 

The  discussion  was  protracted  beyond  midnight — the  na¬ 
tive  peasants  screaming  in  Arabic,  the  Roumanian  Israel¬ 
ites  endeavoring  to  outtalk  them  in  German  jargon,  tho 
interpreter  vainly  trying  to  make  himself  heard,  everybody 
at  cross  -  purposes  because  no  one  was  patient  enough  to 
listen  till  another  had  finished,  or  modest  enough  to  wish  to 
hear  anybody  speak  but  himself.  Tired  out,  I  curled  my¬ 
self  on  an  Arab  coverlet,  which  seemed  principally  stuffed 
with  fleas,  but  sought  repose  in  vain.  At  last  a  final  rup¬ 
ture  was  arrived  at,  and  the  fellahin  left  us,  quivering  with 
indignation  at  the  terms  proposed  by  the  new-comers. 
Sleep  brought  better  counsel  to  both  sides,  and  an  arrange- 


A  JEWISH  COLONY  IN  ITS  INFANCY, 


13 


ment  was  finally  arrived  at  next  morning  which  I  am  afraid 
has  only  to  he  put  into  operation  to  fail  signally.  There  is 
nothing  more  simple  than  farming  in  co-operation  with  the 
fellahin  of  Palestine  if  you  go  the  right  way  to  work  about 
it,  and  nothing  more  hopeless  if  attempted  upon  a  system 
to  which  they  are  unaccustomed.  Probably,  after  a  consid¬ 
erable  loss  of  time,  money,  and  especially  of  temper,  a  more 
practical  modus  operandi  will  be  arrived  at.  I  am  bound  to 
say  that  I  did  not  discover  any  aversion  on  the  part  of  the 
Moslem  fellahin  to  the  proprietorship  by  Israelites  of  their 
land,  on  religious  grounds.  The  only  difficulty  lay  in  the 
division  of  labor  and  of  profit,  where  the  owners  of  the 
land  were  entirely  ignorant  of  agriculture,  and  therefore  de¬ 
pendent  on  the  co-operation  of  the  peasants,  on  terms  to 
be  decided  between  them. 

I  eagerly  welcomed  the  first  streaks  of  dawn  to  get  out 
of  the  close  atmosphere  in  which  three  had  been  sleeping  be¬ 
sides  myself,  and  watch  the  sun  rise  over  the  eastern  moun¬ 
tains  of  Palestine.  Ascending  to  the  top  of  the  hill  in  rear 
of  the  hamlet,  I  enjoyed  a  magnificent  view.  To  the  south 
the  eye  followed  the  coast-line  to  a  point  where  the  ruins  of 
Caesarea,  plainly  visible  through  a  glass,  bounded  the  pros¬ 
pect.  From  the  plain  of  Sharon,  behind  it,  the  hills  rose  in 
swelling  undulations,  unusually  well-wooded  for  Palestine,  to 
a  height  of  about  two  thousand  feet,  the  smoke  of  numerous 
villages  mingling  with  the  morning  haze.  In  the  extreme 
distance  to  the  northeast  might  be  discerned  the  lofty  sum¬ 
mits  of  Hermon,  and  in  the  middle  distance  the  rounded 
top  of  Tabor ;  while  northward,  in  immediate  proximity, 
was  the  range  of  Carmel,  with  the  Mediterranean  bounding 
the  western  horizon.  While  exploring  the  newly  purchased 
tract  and  examining  its  agricultural  capabilities,  I  came 
upon  what  were  evidently  the  traces — they  could  hardly  be 
called  the  ruins — of  an  ancient  town.  They  were  on  a 
rocky  hillside,  not  far  from  the  hamlet.  My  attention  was 
first  attracted  by  what  had  evidently  been  an  old  Roman 
road,  the  wTorn  ruts  of  the  chariot  -  wheels  being  plainly 
visible  in  the  rock.  Farther  on  were  the  marks  of  ancient 
quarrying,  the  spaces  in  the  rock,  about  two  feet  square, 
showing  where  massive  blocks  had  been  hewn.  The  former 


14 


HAIFA. 


owners  of  the  property,  observing  the  interest  with  which  I 
examined  these  traces,  took  me  to  a  spot  where  the  natives, 
in  quarrying,  had  unearthed  a  piece  of  wall  composed  of 
stone  blocks  of  the  same  size,  neatly  fitted,  and  approached 
by  steps  carved  in  the  rock.  In  close  proximity  to  this  was 
a  monument,  the  meaning  of  which  I  was  for  some  time  at 
a  loss  to  conjecture.  It  consisted  of  three  sides  of  a  square 
excavation  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock  of  the  hillside,  un¬ 
covered,  and  the  depth  of  which  it  was  difficult  to  deter¬ 
mine,  on  account  of  the  debris  which  had  accumulated. 
Upon  the  faces  of  the  chamber  thus  formed,  rows  of  small 
niches  had  been  carved,  each  niche  about  a  foot  high,  six 
inches  wide,  and  six  inches  deep.  The  niches  were  about 
two  inches  apart,  and  on  one  face  I  counted  six  rows  or 
tiers  of  eighteen  niches  each.  The  other  sides  were  not  so 
perfect,  and  the  rock  had  broken  away  in  places.  I  finally 
decided  that  the  whole  had  probably  in  ancient  times  been 
a  vault  appropriated  to  the  reception  of  cinerary  urns,  but 
the  matter  is  one  which  I  must  leave  to  some  more  ex¬ 
perienced  antiquarian  than  I  am  to  determine  definitely. 
It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  this  obscure  and  partially 
concealed  ruin  should  have  escaped  the  notice  of  the  Pales¬ 
tine  Exploration  Survey. 

One  of  the  fellahin  now  told  us  of  a  marvel  in  the  neigh¬ 
bourhood.  It  was  a  hole  in  the  rock,  to  wdiich,  by  apply¬ 
ing  one’s  ear,  one  could  hear  the  roar  of  a  mighty  river. 
Attracted  by  the  prospect  of  so  singular  a  phenomenon,  we 
scrambled  through  the  prickly  underwood  with  which  the 
hillsides  are  thickly  covered,  and  finally  emerged  upon  a 
small  valley,  at  the  head  of  which  was  an  open  grassy  space, 
and  near  it  a  table  of  flat  limestone  rock.  In  the  centre 
of  it  was  an  oblong  hole,  about  two  inches  by  three,  the 
sides  of  which  had  been  worn  smooth  by  the  curious 'or 
superstitious,  who  had  probably  visited  the  spot  for  ages. 
First,  the  Arab  stretched  himself  at  full  length,  and  laid 
his  ear  upon  the  aperture.  I  followed  suit,  and  became 
conscious  not  only  of  a  strong  draught  rushing  upward 
from  subterranean  depths,  but  of  a  distant  roaring  sound, 
as  of  a  remote  Niagara.  For  a  moment  I  was  puzzled, 
and  the  Arab  was  triumphant,  for  I  had  treated  his  rush- 


A  JEWISH  COLONY  IN  ITS  INFANCY. 


15 


ing  subterranean  river  with  a  contemptuous  scepticism  ;  yet 
here  were  undeniably  the  sounds  of  roaring  water.  Had 
it  been  a  distant  gurgle  or  trickle  it  would  have  been  ex¬ 
plicable,  but  it  was  manifestly  impossible  that  any  river 
could  exist  large  enough  to  produce  the  sounds  I  heard. 
Though  the  day  was  perfectly  still,  the  draught  upward 
was  strong  enough  to  blow  away  the  corner  of  a  hand¬ 
kerchief  held  over  the  mouth  of  the  hole.  At  last  I  solved 
the  problem  to  my  own  satisfaction.  By  ascending  the  hill 
on  the  right  the  roar  of  “the  loud-voiced  neighbouring 
ocean,”  distant  between  two  and  three  miles,  was  distinctly 
audible.  It  had  been  blowing  the  day  before,  and  the 
rollers  were  breaking  upon  the  long  line  of  coast.  I  now 
conjectured  that  the  crack  in  the  rock  must  extend  to  some 
cavern  on  the  seashore,  and  form  a  sort  of  whispering-gal- 
lery,  conducting  the  sound  of  the  breakers  with  great  dis¬ 
tinctness  to  the  top  of  the  hills,  but  blending  them  so  much 
that  it  seemed  at  first  a  continuous  rushing  noise.  This 
was  an  explanation  contrary  to  all  tradition,  and  it  was  re¬ 
ceived  by  the  Arab  with  incredulity. 

We  now  descended  once  more  to  the  plains,  and,  cross¬ 
ing  them,  reached  the  village  of  Tantura,  where  we  arrived 
about  midday,  passing  first,  however,  the  ruined  fortress  of 
Muzraa,  a  massive  block  of  masonry  about  fifty  yards 
square,  the  Avails  of  which  are  standing  to  a  height  of  about 
ten  feet ;  then  turning  aside  to  the  old  Roman  bridge,  Avhich 
spans  in  a  single  high  arch  the  artificial  cutting  through 
the  limestone  rocks  by  which  the  ancients  facilitated  the 
egress  of  a  winter-torrent  to  the  sea.  The  inhabitants  of 
Tantura  have  the  reputation  of  being  very  bad  people,  and 
three  years  ago  I  saw  a  party  of  French  tourists  at  Jeru¬ 
salem  who  had  been  attacked  and  robbed  by  them.  We 
Avere,  however,  entertained  with  the  greatest  hospitality, 
having  a  levee  of  the  sheik  and  village  notables,  and  Avith 
difficulty  escaping  from  a  banquet  which  they  Avere  prepar¬ 
ing  for  us.  They  live  in  a  miserable  collection  of  hovels 
amid  the  almost  defaced  ruins  of  the  old  toAvn,  traces  of 
Avhich,  however,  are  abundant  in  the  neighbourhood.  A 
lofty  fragment  of  wall  on  a  projecting  promontory  half  a 
mile  to  the  north  of  the  town  is  all  that  remains  of  what 


16 


HAIFA. 


must  have  been  a  castle  of  grand  dimensions.  A  chain  of 
small,  rocky  islets,  a  few  hundred  yards  from  the  shore, 
forms  a  sort  of  natural  breakwater,  and  at  very  little  ex¬ 
pense  Tantura  could  be  converted  into  a  good  port.  As  it 
is,  when  the  weather  is  smooth,  native  craft  run  in  here,  and 
when  once  at  their  anchorage  can  defy  any  gale.  Tantura, 
or  Dor,  was  one  of  the  towns  assigned  to  the  half  tribe  of 
Manasseh,  but  we  read  that  they  failed  to  expel  the  Ca- 
naanites  from  it,  though  when  Israel  “  became  strong  they 
put  them  to  tribute,  but  did  not  utterly  drive  them  out.” 

In  the  time  of  the  Romans  Dor  was  a  mercantile  town  of 
some  importance,  and,  though  in  the  wars  of  the  Diadochi 
it  was  besieged  and  partly  destroyed,  the  Roman  general 
Gabinius  restored  the  town  and  harbor,  and  its  architectu¬ 
ral  beauty  was  such  that  we  read  that  even  in  the  time  of 
St.  Jerome  its  ruins  were  still  an  object  of  admiration.  Un¬ 
fortunately,  since  the  Turkish  occupation,  all  these  coast 
cities  have  been  used  as  quarries  for  the  construction  of 
mosques  and  fortifications.  The  marble  and  granite  pil¬ 
lars  and  columns,  and  the  carved  blocks  of  stone  which 
formed  the  outside  casings  of  the  walls,  have  been  carried 
away,  leaving  nothing  but  the  mere  skeletons  of  ruins  as 
forlorn  and  desolate  as  the  peasantry  who  find  shelter  be¬ 
neath  them. 


THE  TEMPLE  SOCIETY. 


Haifa,  Dec.  25. — There  are  probably  not  many  of  your 
readers  who  have  ever  heard  of  “  The  Temple  Society,” 
and  yet  it  is  a  religious  body  numbering  over  5000  mem¬ 
bers,  of  whom  more  than  300  are  in  America,  1000  in  Pales¬ 
tine,  and  the  remainder  scattered  over  Europe,  principally 
in  Germany,  Russia,  and  Switzerland. 

The  founder  of  the  sect,  if  sect  it  can  be  called,  is  a  cer¬ 
tain  Prof.  Christophe  Hoffman  of  Wiirtemberg,  who,  after 
studying  at  the  University  of  Tubingen  about  thirty -live 
years  ago,  became  a  minister  of  the  Lutheran  Church  and 
the  principal  of  the  College  of  Crischona,  not  far  from 
Basle,  in  Switzerland.  Here  he  became  known  as  entertain¬ 
ing  certain  theological  opinions  which  soon  acquired  some 
notoriety,  as  they  consisted  mainly  of  a  criticism  on  the  ac¬ 
tion  of  the  Church  with  reference  to  the  rationalistic  opin¬ 
ions  then  becoming  prevalent  in  Germany,  and  which  found 
their  culminating  expression  in  the  writings  of  the  late  Dr. 
Strauss.  Mr.  Hoffman,  who  was  an  ardent  opponent  of  the 
modern  and  sceptical  tendency  of  German  thought,  attrib¬ 
uted  its  growing  influence  to  the  feeble  opposition  offered 
to  it  by  the  Church,  and  maintained  that  its  impotency  to 
arrest  the  evil  arose  from  the  inconsistent  practice  of  its 
members  with  the  moral  teaching  which  they  professed. 
Under  the  influence  of  this  conviction  he  abandoned  his 
charge  at  Crischona,  and  with  his  brothers-in-law  founded 
a  college  at  “  Salon,”  not  far  from  Stuttgart,  and  commenced 
an  agitation  in  favour  of  church  reform,  both  in  written 
publications  and  by  his  personal  influence.  He  was  shortly 
after  elected  to  the  Diet  at  Frankfort,  where  he  presented  a 
petition  signed  by  12,000  persons  in  favour  of  reform  of  the 
Lutheran  Church. 

His  Biblical  studies  at  this  time,  especially  of  the  book  of 


18 


HAIFA. 


Revelations,  led  him  to  the  conclusion  that  the  period  of 
the  second  advent  of  the  Messiah  was  approaching,  but  that 
Christ  could  only  be  received  by  a  Church  which  had  at¬ 
tempted  to  embody  his  moral  teaching  in  daily  life;  in  fact, 
that  he  could  only  recognize  those  as  his  own  at  his  second 
coming  who  had  succeeded  in  practically  applying  the  ethi¬ 
cal  code  which  he  had  taught  when  he  came  first ;  and  he 
reproached  the  Church  with  failing  to  inaugurate  a  social 
reconstruction  which  should  render  possible  a  Christ  life 
in  the  true  acceptation  of  the  term.  A  doctrine  based  on 
Scripture,  and  directed  against  the  ecclesiastical  system  to 
which  he  belonged,  naturally  brought  him  into  direct  collis¬ 
ion  with  it;  and  as  an  interpretation  of  the  New  Testament 
which  strikes  at  the  root  of  all  compromise  between  pro¬ 
fession  and  practice  must  ever  be  an  inconvenient  doctrine 
to  churches  which  are  based  upon  such  compromise,  Mr. 
Hoffman  was  summarily  expelled,  carrying  with  him,  how¬ 
ever,  a  large  body  of  followers. 

He  now,  with  a  few  friends,  established  a  sort  of  colony 
in  Wurtemberg,  where  an  effort  was  made  to  put  into  daily 
practice  these  high  aspirations,  and  the  number  of  adher¬ 
ents  throughout  Europe  and  in  America  grew  as  his  views 
began  to  be  more  widely  promulgated  and  understood.  In 
1867  the  more  prominent  members  of  the  society  held  a 
meeting,  at  which  it  was  decided  that  as  the  second  advent 
of  the  Messiah  was  expected  to  occur  in  Palestine,  the  Holy 
Land  was  the  fitting  place  for  the  establishment  of  the  cen¬ 
tral  point  of  the  Church  which  was  preparing  itself  to  re¬ 
ceive  him ;  that  there  should  be  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the 
new  spiritual  temple  which  gave  the  name  of  the  society ; 
and  that  it  was  the  first  duty  of  those  who  were  waiting 
for  his  coming  to  restore  the  land  to  which  so  many  Bibli¬ 
cal  promises  especially  attached.  While  they  considered 
that  the  new  kingdom  which  was  to  own  Christ  as  its  king 
was  to  embrace  all  those  who  were  prepared  to  receive  him, 
in  all  lands  and  from  among  all  races,  yet  the  spiritual  throne 
would  be  erected  in  Palestine,  and  its  material  restoration 
must  be  a  necessary  preliminary  to  its  final  and  ultimate  re¬ 
demption.  It  was  therefore  decided  that  while  the  great 
majority  of  the  members  of  the  society  should  remain  in 


THE  TEMPLE  SOCIETY. 


19 


Europe  to  witness  for  the  truth,  and  to  contribute  to  the 
support  of  the  attempt  to  be  made  in  the  Holy  Land,  a  cer¬ 
tain  number  should  proceed  thither  to  establish  themselves 
in  trade  and  agriculture,  and  endeavour  by  the  example  of 
honest  industry  to  elevate  the  native  population  and  redeem 
the  land  from  its  present  waste  and  desolate  condition. 

In  1868  Mr.  Hoffman,  Mr.  Hartegg,  and  some  others  w'ent 
to  Constantinople  with  a  view  of  obtaining  a  firman  from 
the  Porte,  but,  failing  in  this,  they  proceeded  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  year  to  Palestine,  where,  attracted  by  the  great  advan¬ 
tages  of  soil,  climate,  and  position  offered  by  the  lands  at 
the  foot  of  Mount  Carmel,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Haifa, 
they  fixed  upon  that  locality  as  the  initial  point  of  the  en¬ 
terprise.  Hither  shortly  flocked  agriculturists  and  handi¬ 
craftsmen  representing  all  the  important  industries,  and  they 
proceeded  to  lay  out  their  village  and  build  their  houses  on 
the  slope  between  the  foot  of  the  mount  and  the  sea,  about 
a  mile  to  the  westward  of  the  native  town;  but  they  soon 
found  that  it  was  impossible  to  do  this  without  meeting 
with  the  most  strenuous  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  na¬ 
tive  government,  and  incurring  the  covert  hostility  of  the 
monks  who  have  for  seven  hundred  years  enjoyed  a  spiritual 
monopoly  of  Mount  Carmel.  As  the  colonists  were  almost 
wdthout  exception  men  of  very  moderate  means,  and  be¬ 
lieved  in  the  responsibilities  of  individual  ownership,  and 
not  in  any  communistic  system,  they  soon  found  themselves 
engaged  in  a  severe  and  unequal  struggle. 

Ignorant  of  the  language,  the  country,  the  methods  of 
agriculture,  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  inhabitants, 
who  regarded  them  askance,  and  unused  to  the  climate,  their 
faith  and  powers  of  endurance  were  taxed  to  the  utmost. 
Not  only  did  they  persevere  with  the  most  unflinching  reso¬ 
lution  at  Haifa,  but  extended  their  operations  to  Jaffa,  where 
at  that  time  a  colony  of  American  Adventists,  whom  some 
of  your  readers  may  remember,  and  who  had  emigrated 
there  about  twenty  years  ago,  was  in  process  of  dissolution. 
Purchasing  the  remains  of  their  settlement,  a  new  group  of 
the  Temple  Society  established  themselves  there.  Since 
then  two  more  colonies  have  been  formed,  one  at  Sarona, 
about  an  hour  distant  from.  Jaffa,  and  one  in  the  immediate 


20 


HAIFA. 


neighbourhood  of  Jerusalem,  where  the  leader,  Mr.  Hoffman, 
at  present  resides. 

The  united  population  of  these  four  colonies  amounts  to 
about  one  thousand  souls,  besides  which  a  few  families  are  also 
established  at  Beyrout  and  Nazareth.  But  the  largest  settle¬ 
ment  is  at  Haifa,  where  the  society  numbers  over  three  hun¬ 
dred.  These  now,  after  fourteen  years  of  vicissitudes,  appear 
to  be  entering  upon  a  period  of  comparative  prosperity.  They 
have  not  long  since  completed  a  twelve  years’  struggle  with 
the  government  for  the  legalization  of  the  titles  to  their  land, 
which  the  authorities  endeavoured  to  prevent  by  throwing 
every  possible  obstacle  in  the  way  ;  and  while  the  question 
was  pending  they  w^ere  compelled  to  pay  their  taxes  through 
the  nominal  native  owners,  who  assessed  the  lands  at  four 
times  their  actual  value,  putting  the  balance  into  their  own 
pockets.  All  these  difficulties  have,  however,  at  last  been 
surmounted.  They  now  hold  their  seven  hundred  acres  of 
fine  arable  and  vine  land  free  of  all  encumbrance,  and  their 
well -cultivated  fields,  trim  gardens,  and  substantial  white 
stone  mansions  form  a  most  agreeable  and  unexpected  pict¬ 
ure  of  civilization  upon  this  semi-barbarous  coast. 

Meanwhile,  the  Influence  of  three  hundred  industrious, 
simple,  honest  farmers  and  artificers  has  already  made  its 
mark  upon  the  surrounding  Arab  population,  who  have 
adopted  their  improved  methods  of  agriculture,  and  whose 
own  industries  have  received  a  stimulus  which  bids  fair  to 
make  Haifa  one  of  the  most  prosperous  towns  on  the  coast. 
Already,  since  the  advent  of  the  Germans,  the  native  popu¬ 
lation  has  largely  increased.  New  stone  houses  have  sprung 
up  in  all  directions,  and  many  are  in  course  of  construction. 
The  value  of  land  has  increased  threefold,  and  the  statistics 
of  the  port  show  a  large  increase  in  the  exports  and  imports. 
Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  innovation  is  the  introduction 
of  wheeled  vehicles.  Fifteen  years  ago  a  cart  had  never 
been  seen  by  the  inhabitants  of  Haifa.  Omnibuses,  owned 
and  driven  by  natives,  now  run  four  or  five  times  a  day  be¬ 
tween  Haifa  and  Acre,  the  capital  of  the  province,  distant 
about  ten  miles.  It  is  true  that  the  road  is  the  smooth  sea 
beach,  and  that  its  excellence  varies  according  to  the  state 
of  the  tide,  but  in  this  country  carts  come  before  roads,  and 


TEE  TEMPLE  SOCIETY. 


21 


fortunately  its  topographical  features  have  been  favourable 
to  the  employment  of  wheeled  vehicles.  On  one  side  of 
Carmel,  extending  southward,  is  the  plain  of  Sharon,  and 
over  this  one  may  drive  to  Jaffa  without  the  necessity  of 
road-making,  so  level  and  free  from  natural  obstacle  is  it. 
On  the  other  we  may  cross  with  equal  ease  the  plain  of  Es- 
draelon  to  the  Sea  of  Tiberias — the  experiment  having  been 
made  recently — and  a  road  has  been  constructed  to  Nazareth, 
distant  about  twenty-two  miles.  This  involved  an  expenditure 
on  the  part  of  the  colonists  of  about  one  thousand  dollars. 
It  is  used  largely  by  the  Arabs,  who  have  contributed 
nothing  towards  it;  but  the  effect  on  their  minds,  as  they 
drive  over  it  in  their  own  carts,  and  remember  that  they 
owe  both  cart  and  road  to  the  colonists,  whom  at  first  they 
mistrusted  and  disliked,  is  a  sound  moral  investment,  and 
bears  its  fruit  in  many  ways. 

Fifteen  years  ago  no  one  could  venture  outside  the  town 
gates  to  the  westward  after  nightfall,  for  fear  of  being  way¬ 
laid  and  robbed  by  the  lawless  inhabitants  of  Tireh — a  vil¬ 
lage  noted  for  its  bad  character,  about  seven  miles  distant — 
who  used  to  come  marauding  up  to  the  outskirts  of  Haifa. 
Now  one  can  ride  and  walk  with  safety  in  all  directions  and 
at  all  hours.  The  Germans  have  most  of  them  learned  to 
talk  Arabic,  and  many  an  Arab  that  one  meets  salutes  you 
with  a  guten  morgen  or  guten  abend ,  though  that  is  probably 
the  limit  of  their  linguistic  accomplishments ;  but  they  re¬ 
spect  and  like  the  colonists,  and  a  good  deal  of  land  is  now 
cultivated  on  shares  by  Germans  and  Arabs,  who  seem  to 
arrange  their  business  and  agricultural  operations  to  their 
mutual  satisfaction  and  in  perfect  harmony.  When  we  re¬ 
member  that  the  Carmelite  monks  have  held  the  mountain 
for  seven  hundred  years,  and  compare  their  influence  over 
the  native  population  with  that  which  these  honest  Germans 
have  acquired  by  simple  example  during  less  than  fifteen, 
we  have  a  striking  illustration  of  the  superiority  of  practice 
to  preaching,  for  it  should  be  remarked  that  any  attempt  at 
proselytism  is  entirely  foreign  to  their  principles.  Their 
whole  effort  has  been  to  commend  their  Christianity  by 
scrupulous  honesty  in  their  dealings,  by  the  harmony  and 
simplicity  of  their  conduct,  and  by  the  active  industry  of 
their  lives. 


THE  TEMPLE  COLONIES  IN  PALESTINE. 


Haifa,  Jan.  20,  1883. — In  a  former  letter  I  gave  you 
a  sketch  of  the  origin  of  the  Temple  Society  and  of  the 
religious  motives  which  have  led  to  the  establishment  of 
four  agricultural  colonies  in  the  Holy  Land  by  emigrants 
from  Germany,  America,  Russia,  and  Switzerland.  As  I 
have  taken  up  my  winter  residence  in  the  principal  one  of 
these,  situated  beneath  the  shadow  of  Mount  Carmel,  some 
description  of  the  place  and  its  resources  may  not  be  with¬ 
out  interest  for  your  readers.  I  know  of  no  locality  in  the 
East  which  offers  greater  attractions  of  position,  climate, 
and  association  than  this  spot.  Thanks  to  the  efforts  of  the 
colonists,  it  has  become  an  oasis  of  civilization  in  the  wilder¬ 
ness  of  Oriental  barbarism,  where  the  invalid  in  search  of 
health,  or  the  tourist  on  the  lookout  for  a  comfortable  rest¬ 
ing-place  on  his  travels,  will  find  good  accommodation,  and 
all  the  necessaries,  if  not  the  luxuries,  of  civilized  life. 

Throughout  the  whole  length  of  the  coast  of  Palestine 
from  Tyre  to  Gaza,  only  one  deep  indentation  occurs.  This 
is  where  it  sweeps  in  a  curve  around  the  old  fortress  of  St. 
Jean  d’Acre,  and  terminates  in  the  projecting  precipice 
upon  whose  ledge  the  monastery  of  Carmel  is  situated. 
The  bay  thus  formed  is  nine  miles  across  from  Acre  to  Car¬ 
mel,  and  about  four  miles  broad.  It  is  bordered  the  whole 
distance  by  a  smooth,  hard  beach,  at  the  southeastern  and 
most  sheltered  extremity  of  which  is  situated  the  town  of 
Haifa,  a  modern  native  town,  squeezed  in  between  an  over¬ 
hanging  bluff,  on  which  are  the  ruins  of  an  old  castle,  and 
the  sea.  It  owes  its  origin  to  the  arbitrary  act  of  a  pacha 
who,  about  a  century  ago,  had  rendered  himself  quasi-inde¬ 
pendent  of  the  Porte,  and  established  the  seat  of  his  gov¬ 
ernment  at  Acre.  The  population  of  old  Haifa,  situated 
near  the  point,  having  rebelled  against  him,  he  punished 


THE  TEMPLE  COLONIES  IN  PALESTINE. 


23 


them  by  razing  it  to  the  ground,  and  transported  the  inhab¬ 
itants  to  the  edge  of  the  bay  under  the  rock,  on  which  he 
put  a  castle,  while  he  surrounded  them  with  a  wall,  thus 
keeping  them  prisoners.  When  he  died,  his  successor  was 
suppressed,  the  garrison  of  the  castle  was  removed,  and  the 
wall  was  allowed  to  fall  into  disrepair.  The  inhabitants, 
who  thus  were  restored  to  liberty,  accustomed  to  their  new 
location,  began  to  cultivate  the  surrounding  land  and  to  in¬ 
crease  in  wealth  and  prosperity.  Their  gardens  spread  to 
the  eastward,  where  the  brook  Kishon,  winding  through  a 
fertile  plain,  struggles  to  debouch  into  the  sea,  but  only 
succeeds  at  certain  seasons,  owing  to  the  huge  sand-bars 
which  form  at  its  mouth.  These  dam  it  back  into  small 
lakes,  which  are  surrounded  by  date-groves,  thus  forming  a 
most  agreeable  feature  in  the  scenery.  Behind  the  plain 
rises  the  low,  wooded  range  which  is  traversed  by  the  road 
leading;  to  Nazareth. 

Though  Haifa  is  comparatively  modern,  there  are  some 
traces  of  old  ruins  in  the  town,  the  walls  of  an  old  crusad¬ 
ing  castle,  one  or  two  caverns,  which  bear  marks  of  having 
been  inhabited  in  the  rocks  immediately  behind  them,  and 
the  crumbling  remains  of  an  archway,  dating,  probably,  from 
a  period  anterior  to  the  crusades.  Prior  to  the  arrival  of 
the  colonists  of  the  Temple  Society,  Haifa  was  as  dirty 
as  most  Arab  villages.  It  is  now  well  paved  throughout. 
The  houses,  all  constructed  of  white  limestone,  quarries  of 
which  abound  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  give  it  a  clean  and 
substantial  appearance,  and  contain  a  bustling  and  thriving 
population  of  about  six  thousand  inhabitants.  Under  the 
high  cactus  hedges  at  its  eastern  gateway  are  usually  to  be 
seen,  squatting  amid  sacks  of  grain,  hundreds  of  camels, 
which,  attended  by  wild-looking  Arabs,  have  arrived  with 
their  loads  of  cereals  from  the  Hauran,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Jordan;  for  Haifa  is  gradually  becoming  one  of  the 
great  grain-exporting  ports  of  the  country,  and  one  or  two 
steamers  are  generally  to  be  seen  loading  in  the  harbour. 

Leaving  the  town  by  the  western  gateway,  we  ride  for  about 
a  mile  parallel  to  the  seashore  between  high  cactus  hedges, 
and  suddenly  find  ourselves  apparently  transported  into  the 
heart  of  Europe.  Running  straight  back  from  the  beach 


24 


HAIFA. 


for  about  half  a  mile,  and  sloping  upward  for  about  a  hun¬ 
dred  feet  in  that  distance,  to  the  base  of  the  rocky  sides  of 
Carmel,  runs  the  village  street.  On  each  side  of  it  is  a  path¬ 
way,  with  a  double  row  of  shade-trees,  and  behind  them  a 
series  of  white  stone  houses,  of  one  and  two  stories,  generally 
writk  tiled  roofs,  each  surrounded  with  its  garden,  and  each 
with  a  text  in  German  engraved  over  the  doorway.  There 
is  another,  smaller,  parallel  street.  The  whole  settlement  con¬ 
tains  about  sixty  houses  and  three  hundred  inhabitants.  The 
English,  American,  and  German  vice-consuls  are  all  colonists. 
There  is  a  skilled  physician,  an  architect,  and  engineer  in  the 
colony,  an  excellent  hotel,  a  school,  and  meeting-house.  The 
German  government  subscribes  two  thirds  and  the  colonists 
one  third  of  the  funds  required  for  the  school.  Some  of 
the  colonists  are  in  business,  and  have  stores  in  Haifa. 
There  is  also  a  good  store  in  the  colony,  where  all  the  most 
important  trades  are  represented.  There  is  one  wind  grist, 
and  one  steam  mill,  the  latter  in  process  of  erection.  There 
is  a  manufactory  of  olive-oil  soap,  the  export  of  which  to 
America  is  yearly  increasing,  and  now  amounts  to  50,000 
pounds,  and  which  may  be  purchased  in  Hew  York  by  such 
of  your  readers  as  have  a  fancy  to  wash  their  hands  with 
soap  direct  from  the  Holy  Land,  made  from  the  oil  of  the 
olives  of  Carmel,  at  F.  B.  Nichols’s,  62  William  Street. 
There  is  also  a  factory  for  the  manufacture  of  articles  from 
olive  wood. 

Where  Carmel  rises  abruptly  from  the  upper  end  of  the 
street,  its  rocky  sides  have  been  terraced  to  the  summit,  and 
about  a  hundred  acres  are  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
vine.  Unfortunately,  the  varieties  which  have  been  im¬ 
ported  from  Germany  all  suffer  severely  from  mildew.  I 
have  therefore  sent  to  the  United  States  for  Concords  and 
some  of  the  hardier  American  varieties.  Along  the  lower 
slopes  are  thick  groves  of  olives.  Scarped  along  the  rugged 
mountain  -  side  leads  the  road  to  the  monastery,  distant 
about*  a  mile  and  a  half.  Situated  about  live  hundred  feet 
above  the  sea,  it  forms  a  conspicuous  object  in  the  land¬ 
scape  as  seen  from  the  colony. 

The  views  from  the  house  in  which  I  am  living  are  a 
never-ending  source  of  delight.  To  the  east  I  look  over 


THE  TEMPLE  COLONIES  IN  PALESTINE 


25 


the  native  town  and  harbour,  with  the  date-groves  and  the 
plain  of  the  Kishon  beyond,  backed  by  the  wooded  range 
which  separates  it  from  the  plain  of  Esdraelon.  To  the 
northeast  the  eye  rests  on  the  picturesque  outline  of  the 
mountains  of  northern  Palestine,  with  the  rounded  top  of 
Jebel  Jernink  rising  to  a  height  of  4000  feet  in  the  middle 
distance,  and  snow-clad  Hermon  towering  behind  to  a  height 
of  9000  feet.  Immediately  to  the  north,  across  the  blue 
waters  of  the  bay,  the  white  walls  and  minarets  of  Acre 
rise  from  the  margin  of  the  sea,  and  beyond  it  the  coast¬ 
line,  terminating  in  the  white  projecting  cliff  known  as 
“The  Ladder  of  Tyre.”  To  the  northwestward  we  look 
across  a  plain  about  a  mile  wide,  containing  the  colony 
lands,  and  beyond  is  the  sea  horizon,  till  we  turn  sufficiently 
to  meet  Carmel  bluff  and  monastery.  Behind  us  the  moun¬ 
tain  rises  precipitously,  throwing  us  at  this  time  of  the  year 
into  shade  by  three  in  the  afternoon.  But  even  on  blew- Year’s 
Day  wTe  do  not  grudge  the  early  absence  of  the  sun,  for  as 
I  wu'ite  the  thermometer  is  standing  at  66°'in  the  shade.  It 
is  not,  however,  the  features  of  the  scenery  which  constitute 
its  chief  beauty,  but  the  wonderful  variations  of  light  and 
shade,  and  the  atmospheric  effects  peculiar  to  the  climate, 
which  invest  it  with  a  special  charm.  On  the  plain  to  the 
west  of  the  colony,  which  is  bounded  on  two  sides  by  the 
sea,  on  one  by  the  mountain,  and  on  one  by  the  colony,  are 
the  traces  of  the  old  town  of  Haifa,  mentioned  in  the  Tal¬ 
mud,  but  not  in  the  Bible,  which  was  besieged  and  taken 
by  storm  by  Tancred,  the  crusader,  in  1100,  with  a  massive 
rain  of  sea-wall  and  other  remains,  from  which  I  have  al- 
readjr  dug  out  fragments  of  glass  and  pottery.  Behind  are 
the  almost  obliterated  remains  of  an  old  fort,  with  here  and 
there  a  piece  of  limestone  cropping  up,  bearing  the  marks  of 
man’s  handiwork. 

Everywhere  in  Palestine  we  come  upon  the  evidences  of 
its  antiquity.  This  plain,  now  made  to  yield  of  its  abum 
dance  under  the  skilful  labour  of  the  German  colonists,  is  no 
exception,  for  in  the  time  of  the  Romans  it  was  the  site  of 
the  city  of  Sycaminum,  and  in  the  groovings  of  rocks  upon 
which  the  sea  now  breaks  we  see  the  traces  of  what  were 
its  baths ;  in  the  mounds  we  find  fragments  of  old  masonry 


26 


HAIFA. 


and  cement ;  in  tlie  depressions  we  see  signs  of  wells,  and 
in  the  rock  cuttings  of  tombs.  Only  the  other  day  I  found, 
while  digging  in  the  garden  for  the  prosaic  purpose  of 
planting  cabbages,  a  fragment  of  polished  agate  which 
probably  formed  a  part  of  the  tessellated  pavement  of  some 
Roman  villa. 

So  the  process  of  decay  and  reconstruction  goes  on,  and 
man  is  ever  trying  to  rear  something  new  on  the  ruins  of 
the  old.  Let  us  hope  that  the  sixty  or  seventy  substantial 
houses  of  the  new  colony  are  but  the  outward  and  visible 
signs  of  that  moral  edifice  which  these  good  people  have 
come  to  Palestine  to  erect,  and  that  from  the  ruins  of  a 
crumbling  ecclesiasticism  they  may  build  a  temple  worthy 
the  worship  of  the  future. 


EXPLORING  MOUNT  CARMEL. 


Haifa,  Feb.  7. — It  was  my  fate  as  a  child  to  live  in  a 
country-house  in  Scotland,  of  which  one  half  was  some  cen¬ 
turies  old,  with  stone  walls  several  feet  thick,  and  circular 
stone  steps  leading  up  into  a  mysterious  tower,  which  was 
supposed  to  be  haunted,  and  in  which  it  was  rumoured  that 
a  secret  chamber  existed,  built  in  the  wall,  and  I  remember 
perfectly  that  certain  places  seemed  to  sound  hollow  to  blows 
of  a  crowbar,  which  as  I  got  older,  I  used  to  apply  to  sus¬ 
pected  localities.  It  is  more  years  than  I  care  to  think  of 
since  those  days,  but  I  can  trace  a  resemblance  to  that  child¬ 
ish  feeling  in  the  sensations  by  which  I  am  animated  when 
I  wander  over  the  gloomiest  recesses  of  Carmel  alone  in 
search  of  caverns. 

It  is  called  in  some  ancient  Jewish  record  “the  mountain 
of  the  thousand  caves,”  and  has  been  inhabited  from  time 
immemorial  by  hermits  and  religious  devotees.  Independ¬ 
ently  of  the  Biblical  record,  we  have  historical  traces  of  its 
holy  character.  According  to  the  most  ancient  Persian 
traditions,  sacred  tire  burned  at  the  extreme  western  point 
of  Carmel.  Suetonius  speaks  of  the  oracles  of  the  god  of  Car¬ 
mel,  and  Alexander  the  Great  repeats  the  saying.  The 
Syrian  city,  Ecbatana,  alluded  to  by  Pliny,  was  situated  on 
this  mountain.  Pythagoras  lived  here  in  retreat  for  some 
time  because  it  had  a  reputation  for  superior  sanctity,  but 
Strabo  mentions  the  caves  as  being  haunts  of  pirates.  They 
were  doubtless  used  as  places  of  refuge  for  bad  characters, 
as  well  as  of  seclusion  for  pious  ones.  Others  were  used  for 
tombs,  others  for  crusaders’  sentry-boxes,  and  now  they  are 
the  retreat  of  flocks  and  herds,  and  in  some  instances  store¬ 
houses  for  grain. 

Those,  however,  thus  utilized  are  comparatively  few  in 
number;  I  believe  many  to  be  unknown  even  to  the  natives, 


28 


HAIFA. 


while  others  are  invested  by  them  with  a  mysterious  character, 
and  their  dimensions  are  probably  exaggerated.  I  have  re¬ 
ceived  accounts  of  some,  which  I  hope  to  visit,  which  are 
said  to  extend  beyond  any  known  exploration,  of  others 
which  bear  traces  of  carving  and  inscriptions,  but  noth¬ 
ing  can  be  more  uncertain  or  unsatisfactory  than  native 
accounts  upon  all  matters  where  definite  information  is  re¬ 
quired.  I  have  tried  exploring  with  guides  and  exploring 
alone,  and  have  been  almost  as  successful  one  way  as  the 
other. 

One  of  my  first  visits  was  to  a  ruin  which  I  had  observed 
crowning  a  summit  of  the  range,  but  which  was  only  visible 
from  certain  points,  so  shut  in  was  it  by  the  intervening 
mountain-tops.  I  started  on  horseback,  determined  to  find 
my  way  alone,  and  struck  into  a  valley  where  the  narrow 
path  followed  a  ledge  of  limestone  rock,  often  not  more  than 
two  feet  wide.  I  soon  found  myself  diving  into  a  sombre 
gorge,  the  precipitous  sides  of  which  rose  abruptly  from  the 
bed  of  the  winter  torrent.  As  I  proceeded  it  became  more 
and  more  uncanny;  the  path  was  so  narrow  I  could  no  longer 
venture  to  risk  my  horse’s  footing,  as  a  slip  would  have  in¬ 
volved  a  fall  of  at  least  two  hundred  feet.  My  ruin  disap¬ 
peared,  and  my  gorge  seemed  to  trend  away  from  it,  the  sun 
sank  behind  the  range,  and  the  deep  gloom  of  the  solitary 
valley,  hemmed  in  on  all  sides  by  terraces  of  limestone,  with 
here  and  there  a  fissure  indicating  some  cavernous  recess, 
wTas  becoming  depressing. 

I  tried  to  turn,  but  the  ledge  was  too  narrow,  so  I  was 
obliged  to  creep  cautiously  on  in  the  wrong  direction. 
I  began  now  rather  to  fear  lest  I  should  meet  some  one, 
not  merely  because  passing  would  have  been  impossible, 
but  because  the  spot  was  eminently  well  calculated  for  an 
act  of  violence,  and,  while  I  always  go  about  unarmed,  I  find 
that  my  neighbours  seldom  go  out  riding  alone  without 
carrying  revolvers.  The  aspect  of  a  wild-looking  Arab, 
with  a  gun  slung  behind  him,  suddenly  turning  a  corner  and 
coming  straight  towards  me,  was,  under  these  circumstances, 
not  reassuring.  Fortunately,  at  the  moment  I  saw  him  I 
had  reached  a  spot  where  a  huge  rock  had  been  displaced, 
and  had  left  a  vacant  space  large  enough  to  enable  me  to 


EXPLORING  MOUNT  CARMEL. 


29 


turn  comfortably,  and  I  retraced  my  steps,  amply  rej^aid  for 
my  failure  in  not  reaching  the  ruin,  by  the  solemn  grandeur 
of  the  part  of  the  mountain  into  which  I  had  been  penetrat¬ 
ing,  and  by  finding  my  Arab,  when  he  overtook  me,  to  be  a 
communicative  and  harmless  individual,  who  was  on  his  way 
home  from  a  cave  in  which  he  stored  his  grain,  and  which 
he  assured  me  I  should  have  reached  if  I  had  continued  a 
few  hundred  yards  farther.  Beyond  this,  he  said,  the  path 
led  nowhere. 

My  next  attempt  was  made  with  a  friend  wTho  knew  the 
way,  and  who  led  me  along  a  corresponding  ledge  upon  the 
opposite  side  of  the  valley,  into  a  side  gorge,  which  we  fol¬ 
lowed  past  a  wall  of  rock,  in  which  were  two  or  three  small 
caverns,  which  I  entered,  the  largest  not  more  than  twTelve 
or  fourteen  feet  square,  and  showing  no  signs  of  having  been 
inhabited.  A  huge  rock  detached  from  the  mountain-side, 
and  hollowed  into  a  sort  of  gallery,  is  so  celebrated  among 
the  natives  that  it  has  a  name  of  its  own.  Just  behind  it  we 
turned  to  scramble  almost  straight  up  the  mountain-side, 
covered  with  a  scrub  composed  of  camelthorn,  odoriferous 
thyme,  sage,  marjoram,  and  arbutus,  and  then  found  we 
were  at  the  foot  of  seven  clearly  defined  terraces,  com¬ 
pletely  encircling  the  rounded  hill,  upon  the  top  of  which 
stood  the  crumbling  walls  of  an  old  fort,  and  which  formed 
portions  of  its  defences.  On  one  of  these  stood  a  shepherd’s 
hut,  and  inside  the  enclosure  made  of  bushes  was  the  en¬ 
trance  to  a  cavern,  about  thirty  yards  long,  four  feet  high, 
and  twenty  or  thirty  feet  across.  In  it,  when  they  were 
not  out  feeding,  the  shepherd  kept  his  flock  of  long-eared 
goats. 

Ascending  to  the  ruin,  I  found  it  to  consist  of  the  remains 
of  what  had  evidently  been  a  fort,  the  walls  of  which,  enclos¬ 
ing  a  space  of  about  sixty  yards  long  by  forty  broad,  were 
standing  to  a  height  of  eight  or  ten  feet,  and  were  composed 
of  blocks  of  limestone.  At  one  angle  a  portion  of  the  fortress 
had  at  a  later  period  been  converted  into  a  church,  the  apse, 
with  its  arches,  being  in  a  tolerable  state  of  preservation. 
The  name  of  this  ruin  is  Rushmea,  and  according  to  the 
most  reliable  sources  of  information  to  which  I  have  had 
access,  it  was  used  by  Saladin  to  watch  the  progress  of  the 


30 


HAIFA. 


siege  of  Acre  when  that  place  was  held  by  the  crusaders. 
Prior  to  the  crusades  and  the  formation  of  the  order  of  the 
Carmelite  monks,  the  mountain  was  inhabited  by  anchorites, 
some  of  whom  claimed  to  have  inherited  the  sacred  char¬ 
acter  of  Elijah  and  Elisha.  For  some  time  seven  of  them 
seem  to  have  divided  the  claim  between  them,  and  one  of 
them  is  reported  to  have  lived  in  a  cave  at  Rushmea,  which 
is  said  to  contain  carving  and  inscriptions.  It  was  for  this  cave 
I  was  especially  in  search;  but  though  I  have  visited  the  lo¬ 
cality  three  times  in  all,  twice  with  guides,  and  have  found 
some  seven  or  eight  caves,  one  of  which  had  a  carved  lime¬ 
stone  entrance,  none  of  them  seemed  of  sufficient  importance 
to  answer  the  traditional  description.  A  magnificent  view 
is  obtained  from  the  ruin  over  the  Bay  of  Acre,  with  the 
town  in  the  distance  and  the  plain  of  Kishon  beneath,  and 
plainly  visible  the  famous  well  for  the  possession  of  which 
Saladin  and  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  fought.  I  have  visited 
this  celebrated  source,  with  its  massive  masonry  and  crum¬ 
bling  cistern,  in  the  centre  of  which  there  is  now  a  flourishing 
fig-tree.  During  the  siege  which  Haifa  then  withstood,  the 
town  was  completely  destroyed,  so  that  the  crusading  army 
had  to  remain  in  tents,  and  here  it  was  that  the  lion-hearted 
king  caught  that  severe  fever  which  gave  rise  to  reports  of 
his  death,  and  which  resulted  in  his  remaining  for  four  weeks 
at  Haifa  to  recover  his  health.  That  plain  is  as  unhealthy 
now  as  it  was  then,  and  the  date-groves,  which  are  its  most 
striking  feature,  must  have  existed  then,  for  they  are  men¬ 
tioned  in  the  records  of  the  year  1230,  when  King  Amalrich 
II.  died  of  a  surfeit  of  sea-fish,  for  which  the  place  is  cele¬ 
brated. 

To  return  to  Rushmea.  The  whole  hill-top  is  covered  with 
the  traces  of  remains  far  anterior  to  the  ruins  of  crusading 
times.  Everywhere  we  come  upon  the  solid  limestone  foun¬ 
dations  of  what  must  have  been  large  buildings;  there  are 
flights  of  steps  hewn  in  the  rock,  large  square  cuttings  from 
which  blocks  have  been  taken,  places  where  circular  holes 
have  been  drilled,  grooves,  niches,  and  excavations.  On  a 
plateau  about  a  hundred  yards  to  the  west  is  a  series  of  mas¬ 
sive  stone  arches  in  a  very  fair  state  of  preservation.  I 
found  the  elevation  of  Rushmea,  by  my  aneroid,  to  be  as 


EXPLORING  MOUNT  CARMEL. 


31 


nearly  as  possible  seven  hundred  feet  above  the  sea.  In  a  val¬ 
ley  behind  it,  and  a  hundred  feet  below  it,  are  a  dozen  olive- 
trees  of  immense  age,  and  near  them  a  celebrated  spring, 
called  the  Well  of  Elisha.  It  is  not  above  twelve  feet  deep, 
and,  on  descending  into  it,  I  found  that  it  was  in  fact  not  a 
spring,  but  a  subterranean  stream  which  enters  a  receptacle 
formed  for  it  in  the  rock,  from  a  cave  at  the  side,  and  from 
which  it  disappears  again.  Instead  of  returning  from  Rush- 
mea  by  the  way  I  had  come,  I  pushed  up  to  the  head  of  the 
valley  in  which  the  spring  is  situated.  On  two  of  the  hills 
which  rise  from  it  I  found  terraces  and  the  foundations  of 
stone  edifices.  Indeed,  wherever  one  wanders  in  Carmel, 
one  is  apt  to  stumble  upon  these  substantial  records  of  its 
bygone  history.  As  the  mountain  is  about  thirteen  miles 
long  and  nine  miles  wide  at  its  southeastern  extremity,  and 
as  every  valley  and  hillside  and  plateau  has  at  one  time  or 
other  been  inhabited,  and  as  many  of  these  remain  still  to  be 
explored  for  the  first  time,  there  is  abundant  field  for  inves¬ 
tigation,  and  it  is  impossible  to  take  a  ride  or  a  scramble  in 
any  direction  without  coming  upon  some  object  of  interest. 
Nor  is  it  possible  to  lose  one’s  way  when  alone,  except  to  a 
limited  extent,  for  the  nearest  hill-top,  if  you  can  get  to  it,  is 
sure  to  let  you  know  where  you  are. 

Thus  leaving  Rushmea  without  a  guide,  and  soon  without 
a  path,  I  pushed  through  the  scrub,  now  dismounting  and 
driving  my  horse  before  me,  now  forcing  him,  much  to  his 
discomfort,  through  the  prickly  bushes.  Even  at  this  time 
of  year  the  hills  are  bright  with  scarlet  anemones,  and  the 
delicate  pink  or  white  cyclamen,  and  fragrant  with  aromatic 
odours  as  we  crush  through  the  shrubs.  Suddenly  I  came 
upon  the  foundations  of  a  wall,  which  I  followed  for  about  a 
hundred  yards,  and  which  was  about  four  feet  in  thickness. 
Near  it,  half  hidden  by  the  bushes,  was  a  circular  block  of 
limestone  about  five  feet  high  and  the  same  in  diameter,  in 
the  centre  of  which  had  been  drilled  a  hole.  It  looked  like 
the  section  of  some  gigantic  column  such  as  we  see  in  some 
of  the  temples  of  Upper  Egypt;  but  it  stood  alone,  and  I  fail 
to  imagine  its  design.  Possibly  it  may  have  been  used  for 
sacrificial  purposes.  Shortly  after  I  found  myself  on  a  high, 
level  plateau,  where  the  soil  was  so  excellent,  and  the  rocks 


32 


HAIFA. 


Lad  so  far  disappeared,  that  it  would  do  admirably  for  farm¬ 
ing  purposes.  It  seemed  to  extend  over  some  hundreds 
of  acres.  Formerly,  the  whole  of  these  fertile  tracts  of 
Carmel  were  covered  with  magnificent  forests — even  in 
the  memory  of  man — but  of  late  years  the  demand  for 
charcoal  has  so  much  increased  that  the  mountain  has 
been  almost  completely  denuded  of  trees,  and  although  a 
strict  order  has  been  issued  by  the  government  against  the 
felling  of  timber,  it  still  continues,  and,  thanks  to  the  system 
of  backsheesh,  the  export  of  charcoal  from  Haifa  last  year 
exceeded  that  of  any  previous  year.  Keeping  westward  by 
my  compass  I  soon  after  struck  a  path,  and  finally  dropped 
down  upon  the  German  colony  near  Haifa,  after  a  day’s  ram¬ 
ble  through  the  most  delightful  scenery,  every  step  of  which 
was  replete  with  historical  association  and  antiquarian  in¬ 
terest. 


THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  MARTYRS. 


Haifa,  Feb.  12. — A  more  thorough  examination  of  the 
rocky  hillsides  of  the  Carmel  promontory  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  celebrated  monastery  than  I  have  been  hitherto  able  to 
give  it,  has  revealed  many  spots  of  interest,  and  one  in  par¬ 
ticular,  which  seems  to  have  escaped  the  observation  of  the 
Palestine  Exploration  Fund  Survey.  About  two  miles  and  a 
half  from  Haifa  the  road  to  Jaffa  passes  between  a  project¬ 
ing  spur  of  the  range  and  a  mound  about  a  hundred  feet 
high,  which  formed  the  centre  of  the  ancient  city  of  Sy- 
caminum,  and  which  probably  conceals  some  interesting  re¬ 
mains,  which  I  hope  some  day  to  be  able  to  unearth. 

It  projects  out  into  the  sea,  and  on  the  flat  rocks  at  its 
base,  over  which  the  waves  break  in  stormy  weather,  there  is 
a  large  circular  bath  excavated  by  the  Romans,  about  twen¬ 
ty  feet  in  circumference,  with  a  channel  cut  through  the 
rock,  which  admits  the  rising  tide.  All  round  this  mound 
are  fragments  of  columns,  carved  capitals,  and  blocks  of 
polished  marble,  some  of  the  lightest  of  which  I  have  car¬ 
ried  away;  but  it  is  upon  the  unknown  contents  of  the 
mound  itself  that  my  imagination  is  prone  to  speculate.  On 
the  left  of  the  road  are  caverns  and  rock-cut  tombs,  some 
containing  the  remains  of  loculi;  and  the  surface  of  the 
smooth  limestone  rock  leaves  traces  of  ancient  steps,  and 
cuttings,  showing  that  in  old  times  the  hand  of  man  had 
been  actively  employed  upon  it.  I  had  often  examined  these, 
and  thought  I  had  reached  their  limit,  when,  pushing  my 
exploration  farther  up  the  steep  hillside  a  few  days  ago, 
through  the  low  brush  by  which  it  is  covered,  I  unexpect¬ 
edly  came  upon  a  plateau  eight  or  ten  acres  in  area,  and 
about  two  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  covered 
with  the  debris  of  ancient  ruins.  It  was  evidently  the  up¬ 
per  part  of  the  old  city  of  Sycaminum,  and  commanded  a 
3 


34 


HAIFA. 


magnificent  view  of  the  coast-line  southward,  and  of  what 
was  formerly  the  lower  town,  which  has  heretofore  been 
supposed  to  be  all  that  there  was  of  the  city. 

This  upper  town,  from  its  cool  and  delightful  position, 
was  probably  the  residence  of  the  wealthier  inhabitants; 
here,  too,  were  fragments  of  marble  columns  and  carved 
capitals,  and  conspicuous  among  them  two  gigantic  old 
olive  millstones,  one  about  eight  feet  in  diameter  and  two 
feet  thick,  and  the  other  of  less  diameter,  but  of  more 
than  three  feet  in  thickness.  There  were,  moreover,  many 
rock  tombs  with  loculi,  the  foundations  of  ancient  walls 
of  immense  thickness,  and  here  and  there  fragments  of 
the  wall  itself  standing,  in  one  place  to  a  height  of  about 
five  feet.  But  the  most  interesting  find  was  a  triangular 
piece  of  marble,  on  which  was  an  inscription  in  a  character 
which  may  possibly  be  ancient  Syriac.  It  is  certainly  not 
Greek,  Homan,  or  Hebrew,  though  at  the  first  glance  I 
thought  it  was  the  former.  Unfortunately,  the  stone  has 
been  cut  since  the  inscription  was  engraved,  and  there  are 
only  a  few  letters  of  each  word,  one  below  the  other,  but  it 
was  evidently  originally  a  long  one,  consisting  of  many 
lines.  I  also  discovered  here  a  cistern,  with  four  circular 
apertures;  causing  myself  to  be  lowered  into  it,  I  found 
it  to  be  seventy  feet  long,  supported  by  four  pillars  hewn 
from  the  living  rock,  lined  with  cement,  and  twenty  feet 
high,  from  the  debris  with  which  it  was  partially  choked. 
Altogether  the  place  is  well  worth  a  fuller  and  more  careful 
investigation,  which  I  hope  to  give  it. 

About  an  hour’s  ride  farther  south  is  an  interesting  spot 
called  the  Valley  of  the  Martyrs,  which,  though  rarely  vis¬ 
ited,  is  well  worth  an  excursion,  not  merely  on  account  of 
its  peculiar  geological  features  and  its  great  scenic  attrac¬ 
tions,  but  from  the  historical  associations  which  attach  to  it. 
It  was  towards  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century  that  Father 
Brocard  was  elected  vicar  -  general  of  the  order  “  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary  of  Mount  Carmel,”  whose  sanctuary 
had  been  long  established  upon  the  mountain,  though  the 
members  of  the  order  had  their  homes  in  its  numerous  cav¬ 
erns,  resorting  to  the  shrine  only  for  purposes  of  worship, 
while  they  lived  as  scattered  ascetics  in  the  surrounding 


TILE  VALLEY  OF  THE  MARTYRS. 


35 


valleys.  Father  Brocard  conceived  the  idea  of  collecting 
them  in  a  monastery,  and  placing  them  under  certain 
fixed  regulations,  which  have  ever  since  been  the  rules  of 
the  order,  and  which  were  sanctioned  in  a.d.  1207  by  Saint 
Albert,  Patriarch  at  Jerusalem,  Pope’s  Legate,  and  then  res¬ 
ident  at  Acre. 

It  was  in  this  gorge,  which  subsequently  became  known 
as  the  Yalley  of  the  Martyrs,  that  Father  Brocard  decided 
to  build  the  first  monastery,  attracted  thither,  probably,  by 
its  beauty  of  situation  and  the  copiousness  of  its  springs, 
one  of  which  is  called  after  Elijah,  as  tradition  has  it  that 
the  inhabitants  in  his  time  complained  of  a  lack  of  water, 
and  he  touched  the  rock  and  caused  the  present  stream  to 
gush  forth.  It  wells  up  from  under  the  limestone  rock,  and 
flows  through  a  channel  cut  for  it,  for  a  few  yards,  into  a 
basin  hollowed  out  of  the  solid  rock,  about  twelve  feet 
square  and  six  feet  deep;  from  here  it  flows  down  the  nar¬ 
row  gorge,  and  speedily  expends  itself  in  fertilizing  some 
small  gardens  of  figs,  oranges,  and  pomegranates,  which  are 
wedged  in  between  the  rocky  hillsides,  and  are  tended  by 
one  or  two  poor  families  who  live  in  caves.  These  gardens 
are  now  claimed  by  the  present  monastery,  but  there  seems 
much  doubt  as  to  the  validity  of  their  title. 

It  is  safer  to  dismount  after  passing  this  spring,  as  we 
now  have  to  cross  the  smooth  surface  of  the  limestone  rock 
as  we  follow  the  steep  path  that  leads  up  to  the  ruin  of  the 
old  monastery,  the  position  of  which  is  indicated  by  the  re¬ 
mains  of  an  enormous  wall  which  nearly  reaches  across  the 
gorge,  looking  from  below  like  some  huge  dam,  and  which 
must  have  concealed  the  monastery  itself  from  public  gaze, 
except  from  the  hills  above.  We  are  now  struck  by  the  ex¬ 
traordinary  petrifactions  over  which  we  are  passing.  The 
path  is  worn  deep  by  centuries  into  the  soft  limestone,  in 
the  sides  of  which  appear  layers  of  petrified  twigs  and 
branches  of  the  bushes  of  a  bygone  period.  They  are  per¬ 
fectly  white,  except  where  fractures  exhibit  the  black  flint 
core;  but  in  some  instances  the  form  of  the  branch  is  perfect 
with  all  its  twigs.  Passing  under  the  projecting  buttress  of 
the  dam-like  wall,  we  suddenly  open  on  a  terrace  covered 
with  vines  and  fruit-trees  on  one  side,  and  find  ourselves  at 


36 


HAIFA. 


the  mouth  of  a  large  cave  on  the  other.  Entering  this,  if 
we  are  willing  to  brave  the  fleas — for,  as  it  is  generally  in¬ 
habited  by  an  Arab  family,  they  abound — we  find  that  we 
are  in  a  spacious  apartment  supported  by  a  column  of  solid 
rock,  while  all  around  are  mangers  for  horses,  cut  out  of  the 
stone.  Of  these  we  count  fourteen,  which  will  give  some 
idea  of  the  size  of  the  cave.  Probably  in  crusading  times 
it  was  a  cavalry  outpost,  affording,  from  its  strong  natural 
position  and  proximity  to  the  plain  of  Sharon,  a  splendid 
point  of  vantage  from  which  to  pounce  upon  an  unsuspect¬ 
ing  enemy. 

Ascending  from  the  cave  by  some  steps  to  the  terrace,  we 
come  unexpectedly  upon  a  delicious  spring  overshadowed 
by  spreading  fig-trees,  which  fills  with  crystal  water  a  basin 
that  has  been  hollowed  out  of  the  overhanging  rock;  from 
th  is  it  trickles  into  another  stone-cut  reservoir,  from  whence 
it  is  led  by  a  stone  channel,  hollowed  by  the  monks,  to  the 
monastery  itself,  one  small  room  of  which  is  still  standing. 
The  rock  rises  perpendicularly  behind,  and  is  scooped  here 
and  there  into  recesses,  which  were  formerly,  doubtless,  the 
cells  of  monks,  while  the  cool  shade  of  spreading  fruit-trees, 
the  beauty  of  the  view,  the  presence  of  running  water,  and 
the  ever -blowing  southwest  wind,  of  which  they  got  the 
full  benefit,  must  have  modified  to  a  considerable  extent  the 
austerities  of  their  existence. 

There  came  a  day,  however,  when  their  peaceful  solitude 
was  rudely  disturbed.  In  1238  the  Saracens  came  upon 
them  unexpectedly,  and  massacred  them  all,  not  leaving  one 
to  tell  the  bloody  tale.  There  seems  to  be  no  record  of  the 
actual  number  who  fell  victims  upon  this  occasion,  but  they 
must  have  been  very  numerous,  as  the  Monastery  of  St. 
Brocard  had  become  a  refuge  for  monks  from  all  parts  of 
Palestine,  who  fled  hither  to  escape  the  persecution  to 
which  they  were  being  subjected  in  other  parts  of  the  coun¬ 
try.  Not  content  with  putting  them  to  death,  the  Saracens 
dragged  their  bodies  down  to  the  Spring  of  Elijah,  and  flung 
them  into  the  square  reservoir  there,  which  I  have  already 
described.  According  to  the  pious  chronicler  of  this  tragic 
event,  the  spring  immediately  refused  to  flow,  and  when  the 
Christians  of  Acre,  hearing  the  news,  came  to  bury  their  co- 


THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  MARTYRS. 


37 


religionists,  they  found  it  dry.  When  they  had  conqfieted 
their  melancholy  task,  they  prayed  that  the  water  might 
commence  to  run  once  more,  which  it  immediately  did,  and 
has  never  ceased  since. 

The  result  of  this  tragedy  was  the  practical  expulsion  of 
the  order  of  the  Carmelites  from  Palestine.  The  Monastery 
of  St.  Brocard,  after  its  short-lived  existence,  fell  into  ruins, 
and  more  than  four  hundred  years  elapsed  before  the  order 
once  more  secured  a  footing  on  Mount  Carmel,  and  built  a 
•  monastery  upon  it  at  the  end  of  the  promontory,  which 
served  as  a  hospital  for  the  French  soldiers  during  Napo¬ 
leon’s  occupation  of  this  part  of  the  country.  His  hurried 
evacuation  of  Palestine  involved  the  destruction  of  the  mon¬ 
astery  and  the  massacre  of  all  the  wounded,  to  whose  mem¬ 
ory  a  monument  has  since  been  erected  in  the  garden  at¬ 
tached  to  the  present  edifice.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  both  for  picturesqueness  and  historical  association  the 
old  ruin  of  the  Monastery  of  Saint  Brocard,  which  altogether 
escapes  the  attention  of  the  tourist  and  the  pilgrim,  is  far 
more  interesting  than  the  modern  monastery,  which  is  not 
fifty  years  old,  and  which  is  about  two  miles  distant  from 
this  old  site. 

On  the  top  of  the  hill  above  the  ruins  of  the  Monastery  of 
St.  Brocard  is  a  plateau,  called  the  Garden  of  Elijah,  or  the 
field  of  melons,  which  is  abundantly  strewn  with  geodes,  or 
fragments  of  calcareous  stone,  having  all  the  shape  and  ap¬ 
pearance  in  many  cases  of  petrified  fruit,  the  crystallization 
of  the  centres  when  they  are  split  open  having  confirmed  this 
idea,  thus  doubtless  giving  rise  to  the  legend  that  Elijah  on 
one  occasion,  passing  through  the  gardens  which  were  once 
situated  here,  asked  the  proprietor  for  some  fruit.  He  re¬ 
plied,  not  wishing  to  comply  with  the  request,  that  they 
were  stones,  on  which  the  prophet,  apparently  in  a  fit  of 
temper,  said,  “Well,  stones  let  them  remain,”  and  stones 
they  have  remained  ever  since.  I  found  some  curious  spec¬ 
imens  so  like  small  melons  that  one  can  well  understand 
how  this  fable  may  have  originated  among  an  ignorant  pop¬ 
ulation. 


THE  ROCK-HEWN  CEMETERY  OF  SHEIK 

ABREIIv. 

Nazareth,  Feb.  18. — There  is  a  low  range  of  hills,  about 
five  hundred  feet  above  the  sea -level,  half-way  between 
Haifa  and  Nazareth.  It  is  beautifully  timbered  with  oak- 
trees,  and  cut  up  into  the  most  charming  valleys.  Run¬ 
ning  almost  due  north  and  south,  it  divides  the  plain  of 
Esdraelon  from  that  of  Acre.  Its  southern  extremity,  ter¬ 
minating  abruptly,  forms  a  small  gorge  with  the  Carmel 
range,  through  which  the  Kishon  forces  its  way  to  the  sea. 
It  was  during  a  heavy  rain-storm  a  week  ago  that  I  ap¬ 
proached  the  ford  of  this  river  from  Haifa.  It  was  not 
without  trepidation,  for  the  stream  had  been  so  swollen  by 
recent  rains  that  communication  with  the  interior  had  been 
interrupted.  It  was  doubtful  whether  the  passage  of  this 
river,  which  almost  dries  up  in  summer,  would  not  involve 
a  ducking.  I  therefore  prudently  requested  my  companion 
to  precede  me  into  the  yellow,  swirling  stream,  and  although 
the  water  came  up  to  our  saddle-bags,  the  horses  managed 
to  get  across  without  losing  their  footing.  Then  we  gal¬ 
loped  into  the  oak-woods.  The  sun  broke  out  from  behind 
the  clouds,  and  we  determined  to  prosecute  our  search  for 
certain  caves,  of  the  existence  of  which  we  had  heard,  and 
which,  owing  to  the  state  of  the  weather,  we  had  almost 
decided  to  abandon. 

Leaving  the  high-road  to  Nazareth  to  the  right,  we  fol¬ 
lowed  a  path  for  about  half  an  hour  which  took  us  to  the 
village  of  Sheik  Abreik.  It  was  a  miserable  collection  of 
mud  hovels,  in  the  muddiest  of  which  dwelt  the  sheik. 
After  much  palaver  and  promises  of  abundant  backsheesh 
we  got  him  to  admit  the  existence  of  the  caverns  of  which 
we  were  in  search,  and  persuaded  him  to  be  our  guide  to 
them.  The  first  was  called  by  the  Arabs  “The  Cave  of 


THE  ROCK-HEWN  CEMETERY  OF  SHEIK  A  B RE  IK.  39 


Hell.”  Its  entrance  seemed  to  justify  the  ill-omened  appel¬ 
lation.  It  was  a  steep,  sloping  tunnel  into  the  bowels  of 
the  earth,  just  large  enough  to  admit  the  passage  of  a  man’s 
body.  To  slide  into  this  feet  foremost  after  a  heavy  rain 
involved  a  coating  of  mud  from  top  to  toe.  After  going 
down  a  few  yards  we  found  a  chamber  in  which  we  could 
stand  erect.  Here  we  lighted  our  candle  and  looked  about 
us.  We  found  that  it  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  similar 
chambers  opening  one  into  another.  Each  contained  loculi, 
hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock.  The  entrances  to  these  cham¬ 
bers  were  arched.  The  pilasters  on  each  side  of  the  entrance 
were  in  some  cases  ornamented  with  rude  sculptures  and 
decorated  with  designs  in  a  yellow  pigment.  These  were  in 
the  form  of  curves,  scrolls,  and  circles,  and  were  carried  over 
the  roof.  Each  chamber  was  about  ten  feet  long  by  six 
feet  wide,  and  on  an  average  contained  three  tombs  or  loculi, 
one  across  the  chamber,  facing  the  entrance,  and  one  on 
each  side.  There  do  not  seem  ever  to  have  been  lids  to 
these  stone  receptacles  for  the  corpses. 

The  bodies  were  embalmed,  wrapped  in  cloths,  as  we  read 
in  Scriptural  accounts  of  burials,  notably  in  that  of  our 
Saviour.  “Each  in  his  narrow  cell  forever  laid,”  they  re¬ 
mained  undisturbed  until  rude  hands,  ages  afterwards, 
“rolled  away  the  stone  from  the  mouth  of  the  cave”  and 
rifled  the  contents. 

Some  of  the  entrances  to  the  chambers  had  been  com¬ 
pletely  filled  up.  In  such  cases  the  partition  wall  of  rock 
had  been  broken  through.  Some  of  the  chambers  were 
larger  than  others,  and  there  were  two  tiers  of  loculi.  In 
order  to  get  from  one  chamber  to  another  it  was  often  neces¬ 
sary  to  drag  yourself  along  at  full  length  upon  the  ground. 
In  one  case  the  roof  had  been  broken  through  into  a  cham¬ 
ber  above,  and  this  probably  led  to  more. 

I  had  not  time  fully  to  explore  this  most  curious  and  in¬ 
teresting  spot.  Examinations  of  this  sort  in  the  middle  of  a 
long  day’s  ride  are  very  fatiguing.  The  effort  of  scram¬ 
bling  about  on  all  fours,  or  after  the  fashion  of  the  serpent, 
is  very  great,  and  makes  you  very  dirty.  In  the  absence  of  a 
string  you  are  haunted  by  the  idea  of  not  being  able  to  find 
your  way  back,  to  say  nothing  of  the  chance  of  sticking  in 


40 


HAIFA. 


one  of  these  narrow  passages.  Altogether,  I  entered  about 
fifteen  different  chambers,  and  doubtless  the  others  did  not 
differ  in  any  important  particulars.  I  am  afraid,  however, 
that  I  was  not  the  first  to  discover  them,  but  that  this  honour 
rests  with  Captain  Conder,  Royal  Engineers,  of  the  Pales¬ 
tine  Exploration  Fund.  The  sheik  told  us  he  had  once  be¬ 
fore  guided  a  foreigner  to  this  locality,  and  on  the  next  cave 
we  visited  we  found  the  letters  R.  E.  scratched  in  red  paint 
on  the  rock,  which  under  these  circumstances  can  only  mean 
Royal  Engineers. 

The  next  cave  was  a  much  more  comfortable  one  to  exam¬ 
ine,  though  not  nearly  so  interesting.  You  could  walk  about 
it  comfortably,  but  there  was  no  ornamentation.  The  cham¬ 
bers  were  larger,  but  there  were  only  five  or  six  of  them. 
The  stone  coffins  had,  in  many  instances,  been  completely 
destroyed,  but  the  massive  stone  columns,  or  rather  blocks, 
of  living  rock  which  supported  the  roof  were  finer  than 
those  in  the  “  Cave  of  Hell.”  Perhaps  it  owed  its  more 
dilapidated  condition  to  the  largeness  of  its  entry,  and  its 
proximity  to  another  huge  cave  which  had  evidently  in 
crusading  times  been  converted  into  a  Christian  place  of 
worship.  According  to  a  rough  measurement  obtained  by 
pacing  it,  the  nave  was  seventy  feet  by  thirty,  the  apse 
eighteen  by  twenty-one,  and  two  apse  -  shaped  transepts 
about  twenty  by  eighteen  ;  but  these  were  very  much  filled 
with  rubbish.  The  height  of  the  cave  was  about  thirty 
feet.  The  whole  formed  a  subterranean  church,  which,  in 
its  perfect  condition,  when  entered  from  the  hillside,  must 
have  presented  a  very  imposing  appearance.  On  the  slope 
of  the  hill,  not  far  from  this  cave,  was  the  carved  pedestal 
of  a  granite  column,  and  near  it  a  handsome  stone  sarcopha¬ 
gus. 

Instead  of  going  back  to  the  Nazareth  road  after  finish¬ 
ing  our  examination  of  this  interesting  spot,  we  made  for  a 
hill  on  the  summit  of  which  we  saw  some  large  blocks  of 
stone  betokening  ruins.  Here  we  came  upon  a  native  exca¬ 
vation,  evidently  very  recent.  Indeed,  we  heard  later  that 
it  had  only  been  abandoned  the  week  before.  The  na¬ 
tives  occasionally  find  an  unopened  tomb,  and  dig  into  it 
for  treasure.  It  was  useless  to  attempt  to  disabuse  their 


THE  ROCK-HEWN  CEMETERY  OF  SHEIK  ABREIK.  41 


minds  of  the  idea  that  we  were  treasure-hunters.  On  ask¬ 
ing  them  what  they  had  found,  they  said,  some  red  glass 
bottles,  which  they  had  broken  to  discover  what  they  con¬ 
tained.  They  had  also  found  three  jars,  one  containing 
ashes,  one  earth,  and  one  was  empty.  These  they  had  also 
smashed.  It  was  enough  to  make  one’s  mouth  water  to 
hear  of  the  destruction  of  these  curiosities  so  very  recently. 
I  implored  them  if  they  found  any  more  not  to  break  them, 
but  to  bring  them  to  me.  They  laughed,  and  promised  to 
do  so,  saying,  at  the  same  time,  “They  are  so  very  old  that 
they  are  not  worth  anything.”  This  cave  was  evidently  an 
important  one,  but  the  natives,  finding  nothing  but  the  glass 
and  the  jars,  had  blocked  up  the  entrance  again,  and  I  had 
to  put  off  the  examination  of  it  to  some  future  time.  On 
the  top  of  the  hill  there  were  several  sarcophagi,  some  cof¬ 
fins  hewn  out  of  the  living  rock  on  the  surface,  with  the 
stone  lid  at  the  side.  At  one  place  I  saw  a  huge  stone  lid 
about  eight  feet  long,  two  feet  six  inches  broad  at  its  base, 
and  the  same  in  height,  but  coming  up  to  a  ridge,  which  was 
evidently  still  covering  the  mortal  remains  which  had  origi¬ 
nally  been  placed  beneath  it.  The  position  of  this  I  have 
also  marked,  and  propose,  at  some  future  time,  to  remove  it 
by  gunpowder  and  see  what  is  below. 

Had  it  not  been  necessary  to  push  on  in  order  to  reach 
Nazareth  before  night,  I  would  have  lingered  longer  at 
these  ruins,  which  are  called  Zebda  by  the  natives.  They 
are  worthy  of  a  full  examination.  The  whole  rocky  sum¬ 
mit  of  the  hill  is  evidently  honeycombed  with  cave  tombs, 
many  of  which  had  not  yet  been  opened.  One  of  these,  some 
miles  farther  on  towards  Nazareth,  especially  attracted  my 
attention.  A  huge  circular  stone  about  two  feet  in  diame¬ 
ter  had  been  rolled  into  the  carved  stone  entrance  to  the 
cave,  and  become  tightly  wedged.  All  the  efforts  of  the  na¬ 
tives  to  remove  it,  and  the  marks  of  such  efforts  were  visi¬ 
ble,  had  evidently  been  unavailing.  It  needed  a  very  small 
charge  of  dynamite  to  remove  the  obstacle  which  had  so 
successfully  resisted  the  barbarian  ingenuity  of  ages.  This 
I  had  arranged  to  do,  but  on  the  day  fixed  for  the  purpose 
persistent  rain  disappointed  me.  However,  it  is  a  treat  in 
store. 


42 


HAIFA. 


The  first  entrance  into  one  of  these  old  Jewish  tomb- 
caverns  will  be  an  exciting  episode,  but  there  is  an  amount  of 
suspicion  and  jealousy  on  the  part  of  the  natives  which  will 
render  prudence  and  circumspection  necessary  if  any  at¬ 
tempt  of  this  sort  is  to  be  carried  out  with  success. 

The  whole  plain  of  Esdraelon,  on  the  verge  of  which  this 
ruin  is  situated,  as  well  as  part  of  the  hills  behind,  is  now 
all  owned  by  one  rich  firm  of  Syrian  bankers,  who  draw  an 
annual  income  of  about  $200,000  a  year  from  it.  They  own 
practically  about  five  thousand  human  beings  as  well,  who 
form  'the  population  of  thirty  villages,  which  are  in  their 
hands.  I  found  no  more  potent  talisman  in  inducing  the 
natives  to  comply  with  my  request  than  to  mention  the 
name  of  “Sursuk,”  and  imply  that  I  had  the  honour  of  his 
acquaintance.  No  despot  exercises  a  more  autocratic  power 
over  the  liberties  or  the  lives  of  his  subjects  than  does  this 
millionaire  landed  proprietor,  who  continues  annually  to 
add  to  his  territory  till  the  whole  of  Galilee  seems  in  danger 
of  falling  into  his  hands.  This  part  of  the  country,  how¬ 
ever,  is  at  present  beginning  to  attract  the  attention  of 
foreigners,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  before  long  he  may  find 
rivals  in  the  field  who  will  do  more  to  improve  the  condition 
of  the  peasantry,  and  introduce  methods  of  agriculture  wdiich 
may  make  them  more  independent  of  the  money-lenders 
who  now  make  their  profit  by  sucking  their  very  life-blood. 


EASTER  AMONG  THE  MELCHITES. 


Haifa,  April  2. — The  population  of  Haifa,  which  amounts 
to  about  six  thousand  souls,  consists,  so  far  as  religious  dis¬ 
tinctions  are  concerned,  of  Moslems,  Roman  Catholics — here 
called  “  Latins  ”  —  orthodox  Greeks,  and  Greek  Catholics, 
or  Melchites.  Of  these  the  latter  are  the  most  numerous. 
This  town  may  be  considered  the  stronghold  of  the  Mel- 
chite  schismatics.  They  are  more  influential  here  than  in 
any  other  town  in  Syria.  They  compose  two  thirds  of  its 
entire  population.  Originally  orthodox  Greek,  they  owe 
their  origin  to  the  missionary  efforts  of  Romish  priests  and 
Jesuits  during  the  last  two  centuries.  As  the  object  has 
been  to  gain  partisans,  more  pains  have  been  taken  to  ob¬ 
tain  nominal  submission  to  the  authority  of  the  pope  than 
any  real  change  of  doctrine  or  ritual.  To  this  day,  Lazar- 
ists,  Franciscans,  Carmelites,  and  Jesuits  are  active  in  their 
efforts  to  make  proselytes  to  this  sect  from  the  orthodox 
Greek  Church.  They  allow  them  to  retain  their  indepen¬ 
dence  of  Rome  in  many  particulars.  Thus  it  is  governed 
by  a  patriarch  at  Damascus  who  owes  allegiance  to  the 
pope.  Mass  is  celebrated  in  Arabic,  they  administer  the 
sacrament  in  both  kinds,  they  retain  their  Oriental  calendar, 
and  their  priests  may  be  married  men,  though  they  may  not 
marry  after  ordination.  They  differ  from  the  orthodox 
Greek  Church  in  this,  that  they  take  the  Romanist  view 
of  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  They  believe  in  Pur¬ 
gatory,  they  eat  fish  in  Lent,  and  acknowledge  the  papal  su¬ 
premacy.  Otherwise  they  have  made  no  change  in  passing 
from  one  jurisdiction  to  the  other.  As  perverts  they  are 
naturally  intensely  hated  by  the  orthodox  Greeks,  and  when 
disturbances  take  place  between  Moslems  and  Christians, 
the  Greek  orthodox  are  generally  to  be  found  siding  with 
the  Moslems  against  Roman  Catholics  and  Melchites. 


44 


HAIFA. 


To  this  sect  belong  some  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  aris¬ 
tocratic  families  in  Syria.  As  the  ordinary  traveller  is  not 
often  brought  into  contact  with  them,  I  was  not  sorry  for 
the  opportunity  which  my  residence  furnished  me  of  wit¬ 
nessing  their  Easter  observances.  At  midnight  on  the  Sat¬ 
urday  preceding  Easter  Sunday  the  festival  is  announced 
by  a  great  consumption  of  gunpowder.  An  uproar  which 
would  do  credit  to  a  prolonged  skirmish  lasts  till  the  early 
mass.  The  Melchite  church  is  the  largest  and  most  impos¬ 
ing  in  Haifa.  It  is  enclosed  in  a  courtyard,  round  one  side 
of  which  runs  a  balcony.  At  an  early  hour  on  Sunday 
morning  the  whole  population  turns  out  in  its  grandest  at¬ 
tire.  The  men  wear  short  embroidered  jackets,  with  long 
sleeves  slashed  to  the  elbow,  waistcoats  of  brilliant  colours 
and  innumerable  buttons,  bright-coloured  sashes,  and  baggy 
trousers.  The  women  are  in  flowing  white  robes,  which, 
drawn  over  their  heads,  are  held  under  their  chins,  only 
partially  concealing  their  gay  head-dresses  sparkling  with 
coins,  and  their  low-cut  vests,  gaudy  with  gold  or  silver  em¬ 
broidery.  The  children  are  especially  subjects  of  decora¬ 
tion  in  costume,  and  strut  about  in  the  brightest  of  gar¬ 
ments,  plentifully  ornamented  with  gold  lace  and  flowers. 

The  narrow  street  leading  to  the  church  is  tolerably 
crowded  as  we  force  our  way  along  until  we  suddenly  meet 
a  loud-voiced  procession,  the  priests,  accompanied  by  chor¬ 
isters,  keeping  up  a  discordant  nasal  chant  as  they  march 
round  the  church  with  the  image  of  the  Saviour  on  a  cruci¬ 
fix,  with  red  and  green  banners,  and  with  swinging  censers, 
followed  by  a  miscellaneous  crowd,  all  carrying  tapers. 
This  occurs  three  times.  Afterwards  the  church  square  /ills 
with  a  noisy  crowd  of  men.  The  windows  and  housetops 
which  command  a  view  of  it  are  filled  with  female  specta¬ 
tors,  who  are  not  allowed  to  mingle  freely  with  the  men. 
On  the  stairs  leading  to  the  housetops  are  clustered  the 
tawdrily  dressed  little  girls,  upon  wThom  no  such  restriction 
is  imposed,  and  then,  if  I  may  be  pardoned  the  expression, 
the  religious  fun  may  be  said  to  begin.  It  consists  in  let¬ 
ting  off  squibs,  crackers,  pistols,  and  guns  till  the  spectator 
is  almost  deafened.  The  men  form  themselves  in  a  circle 
so  large  that  it  fills  the  whole  courtyard,  each  man  throw- 


EASTER  AMONG  THE  MELCHITES. 


45 


ing  his  arms  right  and  left  round  his  neighbour’s  neck,  and, 
lifting  up  his  voice  in  a  discordant  scream,  which  is  sup¬ 
posed  to  have  some  musical  connection  with  the  screams  of 
all  his  neighbours.  It  is  a  dull  dance,  although  noisy.  Ev¬ 
erybody  makes  ungainly  steps  in  time,  yelling  and  leering 
at  each  other  in  an  idiotic  manner,  and  letting  off  their  guns 
when  impelled  to  do  so  by  excitement.  As  far  as  I  could 
make  out,  their  songs  were  rather  of  an  amorous  than  a  re¬ 
ligious  character. 

When  this  entertainment  came  to  an  end  a  seedy-looking 
character  entered  the  arena  with  an  open  Bible  in  his  hand. 
He  proceeded  up  the  stairs  to  the  open  balcony,  whither  he 
was  followed  by  the  armed  crowd  who  had  been  dancing. 
These  ranged  themselves  right  and  left  beside  him,  and  he 
commenced  in  Arabic  to  read  in  a  loud  voice  a  chapter  from 
the  Gospel  of  St.  John.  When  he  had  read  a  certain  num¬ 
ber  of  verses  he  paused,  and  about  a  hundred  guns  went  off 
in  a  sort  of  feu  dejoie.  Then  he  read  on,  while  his  audience 
loaded  their  guns.  Then  he  paused  again.  They  fired  again, 
and  so  on  all  through  the  chapter,  thus  emphasizing  as  it 
were  the  most  striking  passages  by  periodical  explosions  of 
gunpowder.  When  this  was  over  the  church  bell  rang,  and 
some  priests  with  round,  high-crowned  hats  and  locks  flow¬ 
ing  over  their  shoulders  made  their  appearance.  I  was  told 
by  a  Melchite  friend  that  there  was  no  use  in  going  to 
church  now,  as  everybody  intended  to  go  and  get  drunk 
and  pay  visits,  and  indulge  in  more  dancing  of  a  less  re¬ 
strained  character,  but  that  there  would  be  a  better  mass  on 
the  following  day,  because  the  French  consul  was  going  to 
attend  in  full  uniform,  and  everybody  would  he  there. 

This  Easter  festival  lasts  three  days.  The  merriment  in¬ 
creases  and  culminates  on  the  last  day,  at  the  expiration  of 
which  everybody  has  given  proof  of  his  religious  devotion 
by  arriving  at  a  blind  state  of  intoxication.  When  in  this 
sanctified  condition  disturbances  not  unfrequently  occur  be¬ 
tween  these  Christian  worshippers  and  the  Moslems,  in  whose 
mind  Christian  religious  ceremonial  is  inseparably  connect¬ 
ed  with  drunken  riots  and  wild  orgies.  The  Caimakam  or 
Turkish  governor  of  the  town,  fearing  that  the  strict  ob¬ 
servance  of  Easter  according  to  their  custom  on  the  part  of 


46 


HAIFA. 


the  Melchites  might  lead  to  these  results,  issued  an  order 
that  on  Easter  Monday  and  the  day  following  no  firing  was 
to  be  allowed,  but  the  Melchites  replied  to  the  police  officer 
charged  with  enforcing  this  order,  that  they  had  no  inten¬ 
tion  of  obeying  it.  A  serious  difficulty  might  have  occurred 
were  it  not  for  the  intervention  of  the  English  and  French 
vice-consuls,  who  gave  the  Melchites  to  understand  that  the 
Turkish  authority  must  be  respected.  It  was  a  curious  il¬ 
lustration  of  the  state  of  Turkish  administration  here  that  a 
Turkish  governor  should  have  to  appeal  to  foreign  consuls 
in  order  to  secure  compliance  on  the  part  of  Turkish  sub¬ 
jects  with  his  own  orders.  When  I  attended  mass  on  the 
following  day  there  was  no  firing.  With  the  exception  of 
the  French  consul,  my  friends,  and  myself,  the  whole  con¬ 
gregation  stood.  Three  priests  officiated  at  an  altar  unusu¬ 
ally  tawdry,  and  a  group  of  men  and  boys  kept  up  a  sten¬ 
torian  nasal  chant  from  first  to  last.  They  were  accom¬ 
panied  by  an  orchestra  of  two  men,  each  of  whom  had  a 
pair  of  common  steel  table  knives,  with  which  they  kept  up 
a  most  ear-splitting  clatter  on  the  rim  of  a  copper  bowl, 
that  might  on  ordinary  occasions  have  been  used  for  salad. 
The  incense-swingers  puffed  fumes  of  incense  into  the  faces 
of  the  French  consul  and  myself  as  being  honoured  guests, 
and  a  priest  brought  him  an  open  Bible  to  kiss,  but  ab¬ 
stained  from  offering  it  to  me — on  religious  grounds  best 
known  to  himself.  Then  he  painted  a  good  many  people 
with  holy  water,  using  a  piece  of  cotton  put  on  the  end  of 
a  wire.  Then  there  was  the  usual  procession  and  elevation 
of  the  Host,  and  the  more  devout  members  prostrated  them¬ 
selves  and  kissed  the  flagstones  of  the  church.  The  sacra¬ 
ment  was  administered,  the  bread  and  wine  being  mixed  to¬ 
gether  in  a  silver  cup,  which  was  held  over  an  embroidered 
napkin  stretched  between  two  boys,  so  that  none  of  the 
contents  fell  to  the  ground  as  the  priest  put  the  teaspoon¬ 
ful  into  the  mouths  of  those  who  knelt  before  him.  The 
women  did  not  seem  to  need  it,  as  they  were  all  bottled  up 
in  a  gallery,  and  could  only  see  or  be  seen  through  a  lat¬ 
tice-work. 

The  service  came  to  an  end,  and  the  people  divided  to  al¬ 
low  the  French  consul,  who,  with  his  cocked  hat  and  gold 


EASTER  AMONG  THE  MELC HITES. 


47 


lace,  had  been  the  figurehead  of  the  ceremony,  to  march  out 
in  state.  These  French  consuls  are  all  very  pious  men  in 
Syria.  The  French  government,  which  has  been  ejecting 
monks  and  nuns  and  closing  religious  establishments,  and 
making  laws  against  religious  instruction  in  France,  is  very 
particular  about  the  religious  principles  of  their  representa¬ 
tives  in  Syria;  as  a  member  of  the  French  government  re¬ 
cently  remarked,  “  Religion  is  only  useful  as  an  article  of 
export.”  Thus,  the  French  consul-general  at  Beyrout  goes 
to  mass  on  Easter  Sunday  with  the  Koman  Catholics.  On 
Easter  Monday  he  attends  mass  with  the  Maronites,  and  on 
Tuesday  he  worships  with  the  Melchites,  thus  dividing  his 
favours  equally,  and  patronizing  with  great  impartiality  any 
heresies  he  may  happen  to  come  across. 

As  the  correct  thing  among  the  Melchites  after  being  at 
church  is  to  go  and  “  have  something  to  drink,”  I  followed 
the  usual  custom  and  paid  a  visit  to  my  Melchite  friend’s 
family.  The  ladies  of  his  establishment,  in  gorgeous  attire, 
pressed  beer  and  wine  and  raki,  and  sweetmeats  and  cakes 
and  coffee,  upon  our  enfeebled  digestion.  We  smoked  nar¬ 
ghiles,  and  enlightened  our  minds  upon  Melchite  manners 
and  customs.  As  I  passed  through  the  outskirts  of  the  town 
on  my  return  home,  I  came  upon  the  male  Melchite  popula¬ 
tion  indulging  in  their  circular  dance  and  their  discordant 
chants.  They  continued  on  the  following  day,  stimulated 
by  a  plentiful  indulgence  in  intoxicating  liquors,  thus  to 
glorify  God,  and  to  celebrate  the  resurrection  of  the  Saviour 
among  men. 


THE  JEWISH  QUESTION  IN  PALESTINE. 


Haifa,  April  17. — The  exceptional  interest  which,  in  the 
minds  of  many  people,  attaches  to  the  Jewish  question  in 
Palestine  must  be  my  excuse  for  now  alluding  to  it.  Al¬ 
though,  in  consequence  of  the  strenuous  opposition  of  the 
Turkish  government,  the  tide  of  emigration  into  the  coun¬ 
try  has  been  checked,  the  desire  of  the  Russian  and  Rou¬ 
manian  Jews  to  escape  from  the  persecution  to  which  they 
are  subjected  in  Europe  to  the  Holy  Land  has  in  no  degree 
diminished.  On  the  contrary,  colonization  societies  continue 
to  be  formed  and  funds  collected  both  in  Russia  and  Rou- 
mania,  and  the  English  government  has  lately  remonstrated 
with  the  Porte  on  the  breach  of  treaty  which  the  prohibi¬ 
tion  of  Jews  to  settle  in  Palestine  involves,  with  what  suc¬ 
cess  remains  to  be  seen.  The  diplomatic  action  of  the  pres¬ 
ent  government  of  England  is  by  no  means  of  a  robust 
kind.  Curiously  enough,  the  Russian  policy  on  this  inter¬ 
esting  question  appears  to  be  undergoing  a  change.  The 
Russian  government  seems  disposed  to  espouse  in  Turkey 
the  cause  of  the  race  which  it  oppresses  so  unmercifully  at 
home.  M.  de  Nelidoff,  the  Russian  Minister  at  Constanti¬ 
nople,  has  lately  addressed  a  note  to  the  Porte,  in  which  he 
complains  that  the  imperial  authorities  at  Jaffa  place  every 
possible  obstacle  in  the  way  of  Jewish  pilgrims  from  Russia 
who  wish  to  disembark  there  in  order  to  proceed  to  Jerusa¬ 
lem.  The  Porte  has  replied  that  no  restriction  whatever 
has  been  placed  upon  pilgrimages  to  the  Holy  City,  and  that 
the  Jews,  like  everybody  else,  are  free  to  go  there.  The 
Porte,  however,  draws  attention  to  the  imperial  decree,  re¬ 
cently  published,  which  strictly  prohibits  the  provincial 
authorities  from  allowing  Jews,  under  any  condition  what¬ 
soever,  to  settle  in  Palestine,  and  states  that  should  any 


THE  JEWISH  QUESTION  IN  PALESTINE. 


49 


Jews,  in  spite  of  such  express  prohibition,  seek  to  establish 
themselves  there,  the  law  of  exclusion  would  be  rigorously 
enforced.  But  all  foreigners,  of  any  nationality  whatsoever, 
have  a  treaty  right  to  settle  in  Palestine.  The  proof  of 
which  is  that  American  and  German  colonists  have  estab¬ 
lished  themselves  here;  that  a  society  has  been  formed  in 
Petersburg  for  promoting  colonization  in  Palestine  by  Rus¬ 
sian  Christian  subjects.  A  Jew,  therefore,  who  is  a  Rus¬ 
sian  subject  has  manifestly  as  good  a  right  to  buy  a  piece 
of  land  in  the  country  and  settle  upon  it  as  a  Christian.  At 
this  moment  the  Russian  Consul  -  General  at  Beyrout  is 
warmly  espousing  the  cause  of  a  Russian  Jew  colonist,  who 
forms  one  of  a  colony  of  twenty-five  Russian  and  Rouma¬ 
nian  Jew  families  who  have  bought  land  and  settled  not  far 
from  the  Lake  of  Tiberias.  A  Moslem  youth  wishing  to  ex¬ 
amine  his  revolver,  which  the  Jew  refused  to  allow  him  to 
do,  the  weapon  accidentally  went  off  in  the  struggle,  and 
mortally  wounded  the  Moslem.  The  whole  Mussulman  vil¬ 
lage  was  up  in  arms,  and  it  was  only  by  the  exercise  of 
much  tact  on  the  part  of  the  native  Arab  Jews  that  a  gen¬ 
eral  massacre  was  averted.  The  vouim  Jew  was  thrown 
into  prison,  although  it  was  recognized  as  an  accident,  and 
has  been  confined  in  a  filthy  cell  for  more  than  four  months. 
His  case  was  warmly  taken  up  by  the  Russian  authorities, 
and  the  plea  of  the  Porte  is  that  he  had  already  signed  a 
paper  declaring  himself  an  Ottoman  subject.  The  Russian 
officials  reply  to  this  that  he  has  since  travelled  under  his 
Russian  passport,  has  been  recognized  as  a  Russian  subject 
by  the  authorities,  and  that  the  Arabic  paper  he  signed  was 
erroneously  represented  to  him  as  being  only  a  permission 
from  the  local  authority  to  buy  land  and  build  a  house. 
There  the  matter  stands  at  present,  and  a  warm  correspon¬ 
dence  is  taking  place  on  the  subject.  It  is  significant  as 
showing  the  attitude  which  the  Russians  are  assuming  in 
the  matter.  The  Russian  vice-consul  here  not  long  since 
brought  some  Russian  immigrant  Jews  on  shore  in  spite  of 
the  remonstrances  of  the  local  authorities.  It  is  evident 
that  if  the  Russian  government  adopts  the  policy  of  encour¬ 
aging  J ewish  immigration  into  Palestine,  and  of  protecting  the 
immigrants  when  here,  they  will  have  obtained  an  excellent 
4 


50 


HAIFA. 


excuse  for  political  interference  in  the  country.  This  was 
always  the  danger,  and  might  have  been  avoided  by  a  more 
enlightened  and  far-sighted  policy  on  the  part  of  the  Porte. 
Had  the  Turkish  government  encouraged  Jewish  immigration 
on  the  condition  of  every  immigrant  becoming  a  Turkish  sub¬ 
ject,  they  would  have  added  to  the  population  by  an  indus¬ 
trious  class  of  people,  who  would  speedily  have  increased 
its  material  prosperity,  while  the  government  might  have 
so  controlled  and  regulated  the  immigration  and  the  coloni¬ 
zation  that  there  would  have  been  nothing  to  fear  from  it. 
By  adopting  this  policy  they  would  avoid  possible  compli¬ 
cations  with  foreign  powers,  while  they  would  at  the  same 
time  gain  the  sympathy  of  the  most  enlightened  among 
them,  by  affording  to  a  suffering  and  persecuted  race  an 
asylum  where  their  presence  would  not  only  be  harmless, 
but  in  the  highest  degree  advantageous  to  the  Turkish  prov¬ 
ince  they  had  chosen  for  their  home.  Of  late  the  pros¬ 
pects  of  both  the  Jewish  agricultural  colonies  which  have 
been  established  in  Galilee  have  improved.  The  assiduity 
and  perseverance  with  which,  in  spite  of  their  inexperience, 
of  the  obstacles  thrown  in  their  way,  and  of  the  hardships 
inseparable  from  settlement  in  a  new  country,  they  have  la¬ 
boured  on  the  soil,  the  progress  they  have  made,  and  their 
prospects  for  the  future,  all  go  to  show  that  under  favoura¬ 
ble  auspices  colonies  of  this  nature  cannot  but  succeed ;  and 
this  belief  has  taken  too  firm  a  hold  on  the  Jewish  mind 
both  in  Russia  and  Roumania  for  it  to  be  lightly  abandoned. 
At  present  the  pressure  on  the  part  of  the  Roumanian  Jews 
to  emigrate  hither  is  greater  than  in  Russia,  where  there 
has  been  a  lull  in  the  persecution;  but  unfortunately  the 
Roumanian  government  has  no  diplomatic  agents  in  these 
parts,  and  is  indifferent  to  the  fate  of  the  Jews  who  leave 
their  country.  In  former  times  the  British  government  had 
a  habit  of  taking  waifs  and  strays  of  this  description  under 
its  protection.  Thus,  nearly  the  whole  Jewish  community 
at  Tiberias  were  originally  Russian  refugees  who  emigrated 
to  Palestine  thirty  years  ago,  and  applied  for  British  protec¬ 
tion,  a  privilege  which  Lord  Palmerston  promptly  granted 
them,  and  to  this  day  they  travel  with  British  passports, 
and  pay  five  shillings  a  year  to  renew  their  registration, 


THE  JEWISH  QUESTION  IN  PALESTINE. 


51 


which  secures  them  the  protection  of  the  British  consul.  If 
any  government  were  philanthropic  enough  to  adopt  a  simi¬ 
lar  plan  now,  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  these  poor 
Roumanians  entering  the  country  and  settling  here  ;  but 
it  is  a  course  which  naturally  involves  responsibilities,  and 
opens  a  door  to  possible  complications,  and  in  these  practi¬ 
cal  days  people’s  sufferings,  unless  something  is  to  be  made 
out  of  them,  do  not  furnish  a  sufficient  justification  to  com¬ 
pensate  for  the  amount  of  trouble  which  they  might  involve. 
Meantime  the  agricultural  enterprise  of  the  Jews  in  Pales¬ 
tine  has  to  contend  not  merely  with  local  opposition,  but 
with  the  unaccountable  indifference  with  which  their  efforts 
in  this  direction  are  regarded,  with  a  few  brilliant  excep¬ 
tions,  by  their  Western  coreligionists.  At  present  the 
seven  or  eight  colonies  which  exist  are  all  composed  of 
Russian  or  Roumanian  refugees,  but  the  best  material  for 
farmers  is  to  be  found  among  those  Jews  who  have  been 
bred  and  born  in  the  country,  who  are  already  Turkish  sub¬ 
jects,  who  speak  the  language,  and  are  familiar  with  all  the 
local  conditions,  and  who  are  now  mendicants,  subsisting  on 
that  most  pernicious  institution,  the  Haluka,  which,  while  it 
is  a  tax  upon  the  whole  Jewish  nation  outside  of  Palestine, 
is  a  fruitful  source  of  pillage,  contention,  and  sloth,  among 
its  recipients  at  Jerusalem  and  Safed.  Out  of  some  seven 
thousand  Jews  resident  at  the  latter  place,  many  are  willing 
to  give  up  all  claim  to  the  Haluka,  and  establish  themselves 
as  agriculturists,  if  they  could  be  assisted  in  the  first  in¬ 
stance  with  the  necessary  capital.  With  some  of  these  the 
experiment  has  been  tried  on  a  small  scale,  and  they  have 
proved  more  successful  farmers  in  every  way  than  the  for¬ 
eign  immigrants,  while,  as  they  are  natives  of  the  country 
and  subjects  of  the  government,  the  latter  does  not  interfere 
with  their  operations,  as  in  the  case  of  the  foreigners.  Un¬ 
der  these  circumstances,  it  is  a  thousand  pities  that  Western 
Jews  do  not  come  to  their  assistance.  They  would  confer 
thereby  a  twofold  benefit  upon  their  race.  They  would  as¬ 
sist  the  industry  and  enterprise  of  their  coreligionists,  while 
they  would  undermine  that  system  of  religious  mendicancy 
which  is  a  disgrace  to  any  religion,  and  they  would  de¬ 
prive  thereby  their  adversaries  of  the  right  to  say,  as 


52 


HAIFA. 


they  do  now,  that  the  success  which  attends  missionary 
efforts  at  proselytism  is  due  chiefly  to  the  fact  that  Jews 
abroad  are  indifferent  to  the  best  interests  of  such  of  their 
race  as  have  chosen  for  their  home  the  land  of  their  an¬ 
cestors. 


“ HOLY  PLACES”  IN  GALILEE. 


Nazareth,  May  1. — Talking  the  other  day  to  a  Francis¬ 
can  monk  on  the  prospects  of  his  religion  and  of  the  prop¬ 
aganda  for  the  faith  which  his  order  is  making  in  these 
parts,  he  informed  me  that  much  depended  upon  the  resto¬ 
ration  of  “holy  places,”  with  a  view  to  increasing  their  im¬ 
portance  and  popularity,  for  practically  the  most  effective 
agent  for  the  conversion  of  infidels  is  hard  cash,  and  the 
increase  of  expenditure  means  the  increase  of  converts.  Of 
course  he  did  not  put  it  in  this  undisguised  language,  but  it 
is  distinctly  a  great  pecuniary  advantage  to  a  native  village 
that  it  should  become  a  centre  of  religious  attraction  to  pil¬ 
grims  and  tourists,  and  that  money  should  be  spent  in 
building  churches  and  monasteries,  and  otherwise  civilizing 
remote  and  outlying  localities  where  the  inhabitants  would 
remain  paupers  but  for  the  sanctity  of  the  spot  upon  which 
they  are  fortunate  enough  to  live.  Indeed,  the  latter  are 
acute  enough  to  understand  that  they  can  frequently  make 
a  good  thing  of  it  by  the  exploitation  of  the  rivalries  of  op¬ 
posing  creeds,  and  they  cleverly  change  from  one  to  the 
other,  when  they  perceive  that  it  would  be  to  their  advan¬ 
tage  to  do  so.  Thus,  not  long  ago,  no  fewer  than  a  hun¬ 
dred  and  twenty  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  of  Ivefr 
Kenna,  situated  only  a  few  miles  from  this  place,  who  be¬ 
longed  to  the  orthodox  Greek  Church,  became  Roman  Cath- 
dies,  and  as  a  reward  for  this  proof  of  their  spiritual  intel¬ 
ligence  a  Franciscan  monastery  is  now  in  process  of  con¬ 
struction.  The  small  village  is  deriving  no  little  profit  in 
consequence,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that  it  will  draw 
pilgrims  to  visit  the  historic  locality  now  that  they  will  be 
received  there  by  the  holy  fathers.  For  both  the  Greek 
and  the  Catholic  churches  have  hitherto  assumed  the  truth 
of  a  tradition  to  the  effect  that  Kefr  Kenna  was  the  village 


54 


HAIFA. 


in  which  the  miracle  took  place  of  the  conversion  of  water 
into  wine — that  it  is  none  other,  indeed,  than  the  Cana  of 
Galilee — and  they  show  you  the  house  where  the  marriage 
took  place,  and  the  stone  water-pots,  to  prove  it.  The  fact 
that  it  is  a  matter  of  great  doubt  whether  it  be  Cana  of 
Galilee  at  all,  does  not  affect  the  question  where  religious 
faith  is  concerned,  but  it  seems  a  pity  that  the  inhabitants 
of  Kana  el  Jelil,  commonly  called  Khurbet  Kana,  should 
not  be  put  up  to  the  fact  that  they  are  possibly  the  pos¬ 
sessors  of  the  site  of  the  veritable  Cana,  and  may  have  got 
a  “  holy  place  ”  worth  thousands  of  dollars  to  them  if  turned 
to  proper  account. 

I  will  not  trouble  my  readers  with  quotations  from  Scewelf 
(a.d.  1102),  from  Marinus  Sanutus  in  the  fourteenth  century, 
from  Andrichomius,  and  from  De  Yogue  and  Dr.  Robin¬ 
son  in  later  times,  to  prove  that  this  may  be  so.  The  fact 
that  it  is  admitted  by  many  modern  geographers  would  be 
enough  for  the  inhabitants  of  Khurbet  Kana  or  for  the 
Greek  Church,  if  they  wished  to  revenge  themselves  upon 
their  Catholic  rivals.  These  latter  have  made  another  still 
more  happy  hit  quite  lately  at  Sefurieh,  the  ancient  Sep- 
phoris,  distant  about  three  miles  from  Khurbet  Kana,  in 
reviving  there  an  almost  forgotten  “  holy  place.”  The 
merit  of  its  discovery  seems  to  rest  with  Saint  Helena,  who 
made  a  pilgrimage  to  Palestine  in  the  fourth  century,  and 
to  whose  ardent  piety,  vivid  imagination,  and  energetic 
exertions  are  due  most  of  those  traditional  spots  connected 
with  the  life  of  Christ  which  attract  pilgrims  to  the  Holy 
Land.  On  what  authority  she  decided  that  a  certain  house 
in  Sepphoris — called  in  those  days  Diocaisarea — had  been 
the  abode  of  Joachim  and  Anna,  the  parents  of  the  Virgin, 
we  are  not  told,  nor  how,  upon  descending  into  details,  she 
was  further  enabled  to  identify  the  exact  spot  upon  which 
the  Virgin  received  the  salutation  of  the  angel;  suffice  it  to 
say  that  the  proofs  were  so  convincing  to  her  devout  and 
august  mind  that  she  stamped  it  with  her  sanction,  and  a 
cathedral  wms  afterwards  erected  upon  it.  In  the  course  of 
centuries  this  edifice  crumbled  away,  the  site,  curiously 
enough,  became  the  manure  and  rubbish  heap  of  the  village, 
and  under  the  mound  thus  formed  was  buried  nearly  all 


“HOLY  PLACES”  IN  GALILEE. 


55 


that  remained  of  this  ancient  cathedral.  Only  the  high 
arch  of  the  middle  aisle  and  the  lower  ones  of  the  side  aisles 
still  testified  to  the  modern  tourist  the  ancient  proportions 
of  the  edifice. 

Within  the  last  two  years,  however,  it  has  occurred  to  the 
Franciscans  to  make  excavations  here,  with  the  view  of  re¬ 
storing  the  ancient  cathedral  and  of  renewing  its  fame  as  a 
holy  place,  for,  to  all  good  Catholics,  it  must  ever  be  a  mat¬ 
ter  of  the  deepest  interest  to  see  where  the  angel  saluted 
the  Virgin,  and  where  her  parents  lived,  and  to  press  their 
lips  to  the  ancient  stones  thus  hallowed.  Moreover,  an  in¬ 
flux  of  pilgrims  to  this  point  will  have  a  threefold  effect. 
It  will  bring  money  to  the  Franciscan  treasury;  it  will 
probably  be  the  means  of  converting  the  resident  local  pop¬ 
ulation,  who  have  been  fanatic  Moslems,  but  who,  I  was  as¬ 
sured  by  my  ecclesiastical  informant,  had  benefited  so  much 
by  the  money  already  spent,  that  they  were  only  deterred 
by  fear,  and  by  its  not  being  quite  enough,  from  declaring 
their  conversion  to  Christianity  to-morrow;  and,  thirdly,  it 
would  give  the  French  government  another  holy  place  to 
protect.  For  it  is  by  the  manufacture  and  protection  of 
holy  places  that  republican  France  extends  and  consoli¬ 
dates  her  influence  in  these  parts. 

It  was  with  a  view  of  seeing  what  had  been  done  that  I 
determined  to  ride  over  to  Sefurieh  and  from  there  take  a 
line  of  my  own  through  the  woods  to  the  Bay  of  Acre,  in¬ 
stead  of  returning  to  the  coast  by  the  regular  road  across 
the  plain  of  Esdraelon.  Passing  Cana  and  the  Christian  vil¬ 
lage  of  Reineh,  where  there  is  an  old  well  with  a  sculptured 
sarcophagus,  we  leave  to  our  right  a  Moslem  “holy  place,” 
called  Mashad,  where  there  is  a  conspicuous  wely,  or  Moslem 
shrine.  This  spot  Moslem  as  well  as  Christian  tradition  de¬ 
clares  to  be  the  tomb  of  Jonah.  This  tradition  is  based  on 
the  fact  that  the  prophet  is  said  in  the  Bible  to  be  of 
Gath — Hepher — and  this  site  is  pretty  well  identified  with 
that  of  the  modern  Mashad.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that 
these  Moslem  welies  are  the  modern  representatives  of  those 
“  high  .places”  which  the  ancient  Jews  were  so  constantly 
punished  for  erecting.  They  seem,  indeed,  to  differ  in  no  very 
marked  degree  from  the  “holy  places”  of  the  present  day. 


56 


HAIFA. 


In  an  hour  more  we  are  galloping  up  the  grassy  slope  on 
the  side  of  which  are  the  mud  hovels  of  the  modern  popu¬ 
lation,  whose  conversion  is  so  imminent,  and  the  summit  of 
which  is  crowned  with  the  picturesque  ruins  of  a  crusading 
castle,  reared  upon  foundations  which  are  evidently  of  a 
far  anterior  date.  This  building  is  about  fifty  feet  square, 
and  from  the  top,  which  wTe  reach  by  a  dilapidated  stair,  we 
have  a  magnificent  view  of  the  surrounding  country,  the 
Buttauf,  formerly  the  plain  of  Zebulon,  at  our  feet — at  this 
time  of  year  a  sheet  of  water — with  the  high  range  of  the 
Jebel  Safed  behind,  and  bounding  the  horizon  westward  the 
sea-line  of  the  Bay  of  Acre,  with  the  wooded  hills,  through 
winch  lies  my  proposed  route,  intervening.  On  the  side  of 
the  hill  near  the  village  is  the  church  in  process  of  restora¬ 
tion,  and  in  the  courtyard  which  has  been  recently  built  in 
front  of  it,  where  the  rubbish  mound  lately  stood,  are  no 
less  than  a  dozen  syenite  columns,  some  standing  to  a  height 
of  twelve  or  fifteen  feet,  some  prostrate,  while  their  capitals 
and  entablatures  are  strewn  around.  A  small  chapel  has  been 
fitted  up  in  one  of  the  side  aisles,  where  a  priest  from 
Nazareth  comes  every  Sunday  to  perform  mass  to  the  Arab 
and  his  wife  who  are  left  in  charge  during  the  week,  and 
who  at  present  form  the  whole  congregation.  The  priest 
told  me  that  many  more  handsome  columns  were  in  a  sub¬ 
terranean  part  of  the  church  which  had  recently  been  dis¬ 
covered,  but  which  I  could  not  visit,  on  account  of  debris. 
He  also  pointed  out  the  fact  that  the  pillars  which  sup¬ 
ported  the  arches  were  divided  into  five  sections,  so  built 
that  they  might  actually  enclose  the  ancient  walls  of  the 
house  of  Joachim  and  Anna. 

What  renders  this  excavation  interesting  is,  that  as  Sep- 
phoris  wTas,  at  the  time  of  Christ,  the  principal  Roman  city 
and  fortress  of  Galilee,  some  relics  of  a  date  anterior  to 
that  of  the  church  itself  may  very  likely  be  discovered. 
The  former  importance  of  the  town  may  be  fairly  estimated 
by  the  extent  of  its  ancient  rock  cemetery,  which  lies  about 
a  mile  to  the  eastward,  and  which  I  visited.  Here  abound 
caves  with  loculi  for  the  dead,  sarcophagi,  either  cut  into 
the  living  rock,  with  their  stone  lids  still  upon  them,  or  else 
detached  and  strewn  like  huge  water-troughs  over  the 


“HOLY  PLACES”  IN  GALILEE. 


57 


rocky  area,  immense  cisterns,  and  rock -cut  steps,  and  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  distant  is  a  wonderful  work  of  Roman 
engineering  skill  in  the  shape  of  an  aqueduct  many  miles 
long,  which  supplied  the  citadel  with  water,  which  it  is 
supposed  continues  to  Sheik  Abreik,  a  distance  of  ten 
miles,  and  which  here  tunnels  through  the  hill  for  a  quarter 
of  a  mile.  The  roof  has  in  places  fallen  in,  and  exposes  to 
view  the  canal  itself,  which  is  about  twenty  feet  deep,  with 
sides  beautifully  cemented.  This  subterranean  aqueduct 
has  only  been  recently  discovered  by  the  Palestine  Explo¬ 
ration  Fund  Survey,  and  is  quite  unknown  to  tourists, 
though  the  whole  place  is  well  worth  visiting. 

Leaving  it  with  regret,  for  it  required  a  longer  examina¬ 
tion  than  I  was  able  to  give  it,  I  struck  off  past  the  lovely 
springs  of  Sefurieh,  where  a  copious  stream  gushes  out  full¬ 
blown  from  its  source,  to  fertilize  a  valley  rich  with  olive 
and  fig  gardens — a  spot  celebrated  in  crusading  annals  as  the 
scene  of  many  skirmishes,  in  some  of  which  Richard  Coeur 
de  Lion  distinguished  himself  so  much  that  his  name  is  still 
handed  down  in  tradition  among  the  natives.  Crossing 
wooded  hills,  we  find  that  every  step  opens  new  surprises 
upon  us  of  scenery  and  of  discovery,  for  these  wild  forest 
recesses  have  never  been  thoroughly  explored.  First  we 
came  upon  a  group  of  prostrate  columns  on  which  we  found 
inscriptions,  so  worn,  however,  that  we  were  unable  to  de¬ 
cipher  them,  but  the  native  who  was  with  us  told  us  that 
the  clump  of  old  trees  which  overhung  them  bore  the  name 
of  “Trees  of  the  Bridegroom,”  suggestive  of  Baal-worship 
and  a  holy  place  of  antiquity.  Then  we  examined  two  hill¬ 
tops  covered  with  cave  tombs,  and  strewn  with  massive  and 
overgrown  remains  hitherto  undiscovered.  One  of  these 
was  called  Jissy  and  the  other  Hamitz.  The  largest  of  the 
caves  contained  three  chambers  with  loculi.  The  entrances 
were  carved.  Not  far  from  them  I  found  another  group  of 
columns,  and  on  them  managed  to  trace  the  letters  IMP. 
AVR.,  evidently  standing  for  Imperator  Aurelian,  which 
would  make  them  date  from  the  third  century  after  Christ. 
So,  winding  through  rocky,  wooded  dells,  we  reached  Bethle¬ 
hem  of  Galilee,  the  modern  Beit  Lahm,  where  there  were  the 
remains  of  an  ancient  subterranean  aqueduct  or  sarcophagus 


58 


HAIFA. 


and  the  fragment  of  a  column,  and  on  through  more  glassy 
glades,  finding  our  way  by  instinct,  for  we  were  without  a 
guide;  but  we  had  a  better  chance  of  stumbling  upon  un¬ 
discovered  ruins  this  way,  and  whatever  path  we  followed 
was  sure  in  the  end  to  lead  us  somewhere ;  moreover,  the 
view  guided  us  from  the  hill-tops,  and  our  compass  when 
we  were  in  the  valleys.  I  quite  regretted  when  at  last  we 
suddenly  emerged  from  these  old  oak  woods  —  alas  !  so 
rapidly  being  destroyed  by  the  charcoal  burners  —  and 
found  ourselves  on  the  edge  of  a  hill  overlooking  the  plain 
of  the  Kishon,  across  which  a  rapid  ride  of  three  hours 
brought  us  to  our  journey’s  end,  and  completed  one  of  the 
most  delightful  rides  it  has  ever  been  my  fortune  to  make 
in  this  country. 


PROGRESS  IN  PALESTINE. 

Haifa,  May  16.  —  Considering  the  number  of  tourists, 
both  American  and  English,  who  annually  visit  the  Holy 
Land,  I  have  been  much  struck  with  the  erroneous  impres¬ 
sion  which  still  continues  to  prevail  in  regard  to  its  availabil¬ 
ity  as  a  field  of  colonization,  and  as  an  opening  for  foreign 
enterprise  and  capital. 

For  some  time  past  a  discussion  has  been  taking  place  in 
the  Jewish  papers  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  in  which  the 
merits  of  Palestine  from  this  point  of  view  have  been  can¬ 
vassed,  and  I  can  only  account  for  the  extraordinary  inac¬ 
curacies  which  have  characterized  the  arguments  of  the  dis¬ 
putants,  by  the  supposition  that  they  have  derived  their  in¬ 
formation  from  sources  which,  owing  to  the  changes  which 
have  taken  place  in  the  country  during  the  last  few  years, 
may  now  be  considered  obsolete. 

Readers  will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  almost  every 
acre  of  the  plain  of  Esdraelon  is  at  this  moment  in  the 
highest  state  of  cultivation;  that  it  is  perfectly  safe  to  ride 
across  it  unarmed  in  any  direction,  as  I  can  testify;  that, 
so  far  from  plundering  and  despoiling  villages,  the  few 
Bedouins,  whose  “black  tabernacles”  are  now  confined  to 
the  southern  margin  of  the  plain,  have,  in  their  turn,  be¬ 
come  the  plundered  and  despoiled,  for  they  are  all  reduced 
to  the  position  of  being  subject  to  inexorable  landlords, 
who  charge  them  exorbitantly  for  the  land  which  they  oc¬ 
cupy,  and  for  which  they  pay  in  hard  cash,  under  penalty 
of  instant  ejection,  which  is  ruthlessly  enforced,  so  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  villages,  with  which  the  plain  is  now 
dotted,  live  in  perfect  security,  though  more  than  twen¬ 
ty  years  have  elapsed  since  it  was  predicted  that  “in  ten 
years  more  there  will  not  be  an  inhabited  village  in  Es¬ 
draelon.”  It  looks  to-day  like  a  huge  green  lake  of  waving 


60 


HAIFA . 


wheat,  with  its  village-crowned  mounds  rising  from  it  like 
islands;  and  it  presents  one  of  the  most  striking  pictures  of 
luxuriant  fertility  which  it  is  possible  to  conceive. 

When,  therefore,  I  read  the  other  day,  as  an  argument  why 
colonies  should  not  be  established  in  this  part  of  Galilee,  a 
description  of  the  dangers  which  would  attend  any  such  ex¬ 
periment,!  was  amazed  at  the  temerity  of  the  assertion.  But 
as  so  much  attention  is  just  now  devoted  to  the  consideration 
of  the  agricultural  capabilities  of  Palestine,  I  think  it  only 
right  that  the  delusions  which  evidently  continue  to  exist  on 
the  subject  should  be  dissipated  with  as  little  delay  as  possible. 
The  fact  is,  that  nearly  the  whole  plain  of  Esdraelon  is  di¬ 
vided  between  two  great  proprietors,  the  Sultan  himself,  who 
has  recently  acquired  a  great  part  of  the  eastern  portion  of 
it,  and  the  Sursocks,  the  richest  bankers  in  Syria,  who  are 
resident  in  Beyrout,  and  who  own  nearly  all  the  villages  ex¬ 
tending  from  the  foot  of  the  Nazareth  hills  to  the  sea. 
Some  idea  of  the  amount  of  the  grain  which  is  annually 
grown  on  their  portion  of  the  plain  of  Esdraelon  alone  may 
be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  Mr.  Sursock  himself  told  me 
a  few  weeks  ago  that  the  cost  of  transporting  his  last  year’s 
crop  to  Haifa  and  Acre  amounted  to  $50,000.  This  was 
said  as  illustrating  the  necessity  of  a  railway  across  the 
plain,  with  a  view  of  cheapening  the  cost  of  transport,  as, 
owing  to  the  Sultan  having  property  here,  it  has  be¬ 
come  desirable  in  his  majesty’s  interest.  A  concession  has 
recently  been  granted  to  these  Beyrout  capitalists  for  the 
purpose  of  constructing  a  line  which  shall  connect  the  Bay 
of  Acre  and  the  two  ports  upon  it  with  the  great  grain¬ 
growing  province  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  called  the 
Hauran,  from  which  region  thousands  of  camels  loaded  with 
cereals  come  annually  to  Acre  and  Haifa. 

As  I  write  the  engineers  are  starting  to  commence  the 
surveys  of  this  line,  which  will  run  right  through  to  the  cen¬ 
tre  of  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  and  open  up  a  great  extent  of 
new  country  lying  in  the  hills  behind  it,  which  will  now  find 
an  easier  access  to  the  sea,  while  the  whole  of  Galilee  will 
benefit  from  so  important  a  means  of  communication.  In¬ 
deed,  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  while  every  province  in 
Turkey  lias  been  steadily  retrograding  during  the  last  few 


PROGRESS  IN  PALESTINE. 


61 


years,  Palestine  alone  has  been  rapidly  developing  in  agri¬ 
cultural  and  material  prosperity.  In  Haifa  and  its  neigh¬ 
bourhood  land  has  risen  threefold  in  value  during  the  last 
five  years,  while  the  export  and  import  trade  has  increased 
with  a  remarkable  rapidity,  and  the  population  has  doubled 
within  ten  years.  Indeed,  the  population  of  the  whole  of 
Palestine  shows  an  increase  during  that  period,  more  partic¬ 
ularly  owing  to  immigration  within  the  last  year  or  two. 
The  consequence  is  that  although,  so  far  as  security  for  life 
and  property  is  concerned,  there  is  still  much  to  be  desired, 
great  progress  has  been  made,  and  with  a  more  energetic 
government  the  country  might  be  rendered  as  safe  as  any  in 
the  world. 

As  it  is,  the  Bedouins  are  being  gradually  pushed  east  of 
the  Jordan,  and  it  is  now  becoming  more  and  more  rare  for 
an  Arab  encampment  to  be  seen  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
more  settled  and  prosperous  part  of  the  country.  There  are, 
of  course,  villages  where  the  inhabitants  have  a  bad  reputa¬ 
tion,  and,  as  a  rule  in  the  establishment  of  new  colonies, 
proximity  to  these  should  be  avoided ;  but  fertile  lands, 
near  peaceable  villages,  removed  from  all  risk  of  Arab  in¬ 
cursion,  and  which  can  be  purchased  at  a  low  price,  abound; 
and  I  know  of  no  more  profitable  investment  of  money,  were 
the  government  favorable  to  it,  whether  by  Jew  or  Gentile, 
than  is  furnished  by  a  judiciously  selected  tract  of  this  de¬ 
scription.  In  proof  of  which  may  be  cited  the  extraordinary 
wealth  which  has  been  accumulated  by  the  Sursocks  alone, 
who  now  own  thousands  of  acres  of  the  finest  land  in  Pales¬ 
tine,  and  who  purchase  numerous  new  villages  every  year. 

At  the  same  time  it  must  be  admitted  that,  practically,  the 
purchase  of  land  in  this  country  is  attended  with  many  dif¬ 
ficulties.  It  is  either  held  by  villages  in  a  communal  man¬ 
ner,  or  in  very  small  patches,  many  of  which  have  several 
owners.  In  the  first  case  the  whole  village,  with  its  lands, 
must  be  purchased,  an  operation  involving  many  official 
formalities,  or  the  co-proprietors  of  the  small  patches  have  to 
agree  upon  the  amount  of  the  purchase-money,  and  then  to 
show  a  clear  title  and  the  payment  of  all  arrears  of  taxes.  As 
a  rule  the  purchase  of  any  considerable  extent  of  land  in¬ 
volves  negotiations  extending  over  several  months,  and 


62 


HAIFA. 


strangers  unused  to  the  ways  of  the  country  and  the  methods 
by  which  official  routine  may  be  expedited  and  obstacles  re¬ 
moved  are  apt  to  meet  with  many  disappointments.  On  the 
other  hand,  owing  to  official  corruption,  immense  tracts  of 
land  fit  for  cultivation,  but  which  are  unoccupied  owing  to 
the  sparseness  of  the  population  generally,  may,  through 
favouritism  and  backsheesh,  be  obtained  at  an  almost  nomi¬ 
nal  price. 

The  same  erroneous  impression  prevails  in  regard  to  the 
barrenness  of  the  country,  as  in  regard  to  its  insecurity. 
Few  travellers  see  more  than  the  beaten  routes,  where  the 
hills  happen  to  be  unusually  stony  and  barren;  but  the  ex¬ 
tent  of  the  population  which  once  inhabited  the  country 
furnishes  the  best  evidence  of  what  it  is  capable  of  support¬ 
ing,  and  its  capacities  in  this  respect  have  been  most  forcibly 
dwelt  upon  by  the  officers  engaged  in  the  survey  of  the 
country  for  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  who  have  en¬ 
joyed  unequalled  opportunities  of  judging  upon  the  question. 
The  fact  that  the  resident  Jewish  agricultural  population  of 
Galilee  alone  amounts  to  over  a  thousand  souls,  is  probably 
one  which  will  astonish  Western  Jews  more  than  any  one 
else;  but  I  have  verified  it  by  actually  visiting  myself  the 
localities  in  which  they  are  engaged  in  their  farming  opera¬ 
tions,  and  am  not  giving  the  number  without  having  arrived 
at  it  upon  sure  data. 

There  are  three  prejudices  which  have  operated  against 
the  colonization  of  Palestine  by  Jews,  and  which  are  all  ab¬ 
solutely  unsound,  and  these  are,  first,  that  the  Jew  cannot  be¬ 
come  an  agriculturist;  secondly,  that  the  country  is  barren, 
and,  thirdly,  that  it  is  unsafe.  The  real  obstacle  in  the  way 
to  Palestine  colonization  does  not  lie  in  any  of  these  direc¬ 
tions,  but  in  the  fact  that  the  government  is  most  deter¬ 
minedly  opposed  to  it. 


THE  FIRST  PALESTINE  RAILWAY. 


Haifa,  June  13. — When  Thackeray  foretold  that  the  day 
would  come  when  the  scream  of  the  locomotive  would  awake 
the  echoes  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  the  voice  of  the  conduct¬ 
or  be  heard  shouting,  “Ease  her,  stop  her!  Any  passen¬ 
gers  for  Joppa?”  he  probably  did  so  very  much  in  the  spirit 
in  which  Macaulay  prophesied  the  New-Zealander  sitting  on 
the  ruins  of  London  Bridge,  as  an  event  in  the  dim  future, 
and  as  a  part  of  some  distant  impending  social  revolution; 
but  the  realization  of  the  prediction  is  becoming  imminent. 
The  preliminary  survey  has  just  been  completed  as  far  as 
the  Jordan,  of  the  Hamidie,  or  Acre  and  Damascus  Railway, 
which  bids  fair  to  be  the  first  Palestine  railway. 

It  is  called  the  Hamidie  line  because  it  is  named  after  his 
present  majesty  the  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid,  and  probably  one 
reason  why  the  firman  has  been  granted  so  easily  lies  in  the 
fact  that  it  passes  through  a  great  extent  of  property  which 
he  has  recently  acquired  to  the  east  of  the  plain  of  Esdrae- 
lon.  The  concession  is  held  by  ten  or  twelve  gentlemen, 
some  of  whom  are  Moslems  and  some  Christians,  but  all  are 
Ottoman  subjects  resident  in  Syria.  Among  the  most  in¬ 
fluential  are  the  Messrs.  Sursock,  bankers,  who  own  the 
greater  part  of  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  and  who  have  there¬ 
fore  a  large  interest  in  the  success  of  the  line.  From  which 
it  will  appear  that  this  is  no  speculation  of  Western  promot¬ 
ers  or  financiers,  but  a  real,  bona-fide  enterprise,  and  one 
which  is  likely  to  become  a  large  source  of  profit  to  the 
holders  of  the  concession  and  to  the  shareholders,  for  it  will 
tap  one  of  the  richest  grain-producing  districts  in  the  East. 

I  have  myself  ridden  over  the  line  for  the  first  twenty 
miles,  and  have  just  seen  the  surveying  party,  who  have  re¬ 
turned  well  satisfied  with  the  facilities  which  it  offers  from 
an  engineering  point  of  view.  Starting  from  Acre,  it  will 


64 


HAIFA. 


follow  the  curve  of  the  bay  for  ten  miles  in  a  southerly  di¬ 
rection  at  a  distance  of  about  two  miles  from  the  beach. 
Crossing  the  Kishon  by  a  sixty-foot  bridge,  it  will  turn 
east  at  the  junction  of  a  short  branch  line,  two  miles  long, 
at  Haifa.  Hugging  the  foot  of  the  Carmel  range,  so  as  to 
avoid  the  Kishon  marshes,  it  will  pass  through  the  gorge 
which  separates  that  mountain  from  the  lower  ranges  of  the 
Galilee  hills,  and  debouch  into  the  plain  of  Esdraelon.  This 
plain  it  will  traverse  in  its  entire  length.  The  station  for 
Nazareth  will  be  distant  about  twelve  miles  from  that  town; 
there  may,  however,  be  a  short  branch  to  the  foot  of  the 
hills. 

So  far  there  has  only  been  a  rise  from  the  sea-level  in 
twenty  miles  of  two  hundred  and  ten  feet,  so  that  the  grade 
is  imperceptible.  It  now  crosses  the  watershed,  and  com¬ 
mences  to  descend  across  the  plain  of  Jezreel  to  the  valley 
of  the  Jordan.  Here  the  Wady  Jalud  offers  an  easy  incline 
as  far  as  Beisan,  the  ancient  Bethshean,  and  every  mile  of 
the  country  it  has  traversed  so  far  is  private  property,  and 
fairly  cultivated.  At  Beisan  it  enters  upon  a  region  which 
has,  partly  owing  to  malaria  and  partly  to  its  insecurity, 
been  abandoned  to  the  Arabs,  but  it  is  the  tract  of  all  oth¬ 
ers  which  the  passage  of  a  railway  is  likely  to  transfigure, 
for  the  abundance  of  the  water,  which  is  now  allowed  to 
stagnate  in  marshes,  and  which  causes  its  unhealthiness,  is 
destined  to  attract  attention  to  its  great  fertility  and  natural 
advantages,  which  would,  with  proper  drainage,  render  it 
the  most  profitable  region  in  Palestine.  Owing  to  the  ele¬ 
vation  of  the  springs,  which  send  their  copious  streams 
across  the  site  of  Beisan,  the  rich  plain  which  descends  to 
the  Jordan,  five  hundred  feet  below,  can  be  abundantly  ir¬ 
rigated.  “  In  fact,”  says  Hr.  Thomson,  describing  this 
place  in  his  “  Land  and  the  Book,”  “  few  spots  on  earth,  and 
none  in  this  country,  possess  greater  agricultural  and  manu¬ 
facturing  advantages  than  this  valley,  and  yet  it  is  utterly 
desolate.” 

It  needs  only  a  more  satisfactory  administration  on  the 
part  of  the  government,  and  the  connection  of  this  district 
with  the  sea  by  rail,  to  make  Beisan  an  important  commer¬ 
cial  and  manufacturing  centre.  All  kinds  of  machinery 


THE  FIRST  PALESTINE  RAILWA  Y. 


65 


might  be  driven  at  small  expense  by  its  abounding  brooks, 
and  then  the  lovely  valley  of  Jezreel  above  it,  irrigated  by 
the  Jalud,  and  the  Ghor  Beisan  below,  watered  in  every 
part  by  many  fertilizing  streams,  are  capable  of  sustaining 
a  little  nation  in  and  of  themselves.  There  is  a  little  bit  of 
engineering  required  to  carry  the  line  down  to  the  valley 
of  the  Jordan,  here  eight  hundred  feet  below  the  level  of 
the  sea,  which  it  then  follows  north  as  far  as  the  Djisr  el- 
Medjamieh.  Near  this  ancient  Roman  bridge  of  three  arch¬ 
es,  which  is  used  to  this  day  by  the  caravans  of  camels 
which  bring  the  produce  of  the  Hauran  to  the  coast,  the 
new  railway  bridge  will  cross  the  Jordan,  probably  the  only 
one  in  the  world  which  will  have  for  its  neighbour  an  actual 
bridge  in  use  which  was  built  by  the  Romans,  thus,  in  this 
now  semi-barbarous  country,  bringing  into  close  contact  an 
ancient  and  a  modern  civilization.  After  crossing  the  Jor¬ 
dan,  the  line  will  still  follow  the  banks  of  that  river  to  its 
junction  with  the  Yarmuk,  which  it  will  also  cross,  and  then 
traverse  a  fertile  plain  of  rich  alluvium,  about  five  miles 
long  by  four  wide,  to  the  base  of  the  ridge  which  overlooks 
the  eastern  margin  of  the  Sea  of  Tiberias. 

This  is  the  extent  to  which  the  survey  has  been  complet¬ 
ed.  It  is  not  decided  whether  to  rise  from  the  valley  by 
the  shoulder  of  the  ridge  which  overlooks  the  Yarmuk,  or 
to  follow  the  east  shore  of  the  Lake  of  Tiberias  to  the  Wady 
Semakh,  which  offers  great  advantages  for  a  grade  by 
which  to  ascend  nearly  three  thousand  feet  in  about  fifteen 
miles.  This  is  the  toughest  bit  of  engineering  on  the  line, 
and  is  in  close  proximity  to  the  steep  place  down  which  the 
swine  possessed  by  devils  are  said  to  have  rushed  into  the 
sea.  Once  on  the  plateau  it  will  traverse  the  magnificent 
pasture-lands  of  Jaulan,  across  which  I  rode  four  years  ago 
in  the  spring,  when  the  numerous  streams  by  which  it  was 
watered  were  flowing  copiously,  and  the  tall,  waving  grass 
reached  nearly  up  to  my  horse’s  belly. 

This  rich  tract  was  the  one  on  which  it  is  probable  that 
Job  pastured  his  flocks  and  herds — at  least,  all  the  local  tra¬ 
dition  points  to  this.  It  was  well  populated  until  compara¬ 
tively  recent  times,  but  the  sedentary  inhabitants,  the  ruins 
of  whose  villages  dot  the  country,  were  driven  out  by  the 
5 


66 


HAIFA . 


Arabs,  who  now  pasture  vast  herds  of  cattle  upon  it,  and 
droves  of  horses  which  are  fattened  here  after  their  journey 
from  Mesopotamia  previous  to  being  exported  to  Egypt. 
The  course  of  the  line  across  this  region  has  not  been  defi¬ 
nitely  fixed,  but  it  will  probably  take  as  southern  a  direction 
as  possible,  so  as  to  tap  the  grain-growing  country  of  the 
Hauran.  There  may  possibly  be  a  short  branch  to  Mezrib, 
which  is  the  principal  grain  emporium,  and  one  of  the  most 
important  halting-places  on  the  great  pilgrimage  road  from 
Damascus  to  Mecca.  It  is  calculated  that  the  transport  of 
grain  alone  from  this  region  to  the  coast  will  suffice  to  pay 
a  large  dividend  upon  the  capital  required  for  the  construc¬ 
tion  of  the  road,  which  will  be  about  one  hundred  and  thirty 
miles  in  length.  I  do  not  remember  the  number  of  tons  an¬ 
nually  conveyed  on  the  backs  of  camels  to  Acre  and  Haifa, 
but  I  have  seen  thousands  of  these  ungainly  animals  collect¬ 
ed  at  the  gates  of  both  those  towns  during  the  season,  and 
the  amount  must  be  something  enormous.  This  does  not 
include  the  whole  of  the  Damascus  trade,  which  now  finds 
its  way  by  the  French  carriage  road  across  the  Lebanon  to 
Beyrout,  and  which  will  all  be  diverted  to  the  railway,  or 
the  produce  of  the  rich  country  it  traverses  between  the  sea- 
coast  and  the  Jordan. 

The  grantees  have  also  secured  the  right  to  put  steam-tugs 
upon  the  Lake  of  Tiberias,  and  under  the  influence  of  this 
new  means  of  transportation  the  desolate  shores  will  under¬ 
go  transformation.  The  great  plain  of  Genesareth,  across 
which  I  rode  a  month  ago,  is  now  a  waste  of  the  most  luxu¬ 
riant  wild  vegetation,  watered  by  three  fine  streams,  besides 
being  well  supplied  with  springs.  It  was  celebrated  of  old 
for  the  amount  and  variety  of  its  produce,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  is  again  destined  to  be  so.  The  plains  in  which  Beth- 
saida  and  Capernaum  stood  formerly  are  all  covered  with 
heavy  vegetation  which  conceals  the  extensive  ruins  of  the 
cities  which  once  adorned  them;  and  there  is  a  fine  back 
country  within  easy  reach  of  the  lake  which  will  send  its 
produce  to  it  as  soon  as  means  of  transportation  are  pro¬ 
vided.  At  present  there  are  only  half  a  dozen  sailing-boats 
on  the  lake,  rather  a  contrast  from  the  time  when  Josephus 
collected  no  fewer  than  two  hundred  and  thirty  war-ships 


THE  FIRST  PALESTINE  RAILWAY. 


67 


with  which  to  attack  Tiberius  in  the  war  against  the  Ro¬ 
mans;  and  the  fish  with  which  it  abounded  in  the  days  of  the 
miraculous  draught  are  more  miraculously  numerous  than 
ever,  for  fishing  as  an  industry  has  almost  ceased  to  exist, 
and  the  finny  tribe  are  left  undisturbed.  There  are  some 
celebrated  sulphur  baths  also  on  the  shores  of  the  lake  and 
within  two  miles  of  the  town,  which  are  visited  annually  by 
thousands  of  patients.  I  was  there  during  the  bathing  sea¬ 
son,  and  found  them  camped  in  tents  on  the  margin  of  the 
lake,  or  sweltering  in  the  fetid  atmosphere  of  the  one  large 
bathing-room,  in  which  a  crowd  of  naked  and  more  or  less 
cutaneous  patients  were  disporting  themselves. 

The  surveying  party  tell  me  that  they  received  the  great¬ 
est  kindness  and  hospitality  from  the  Arabs  in  the  Jordan 
valley,  who  were  of  a  sedentary  tribe,  and  cultivated  the 
land,  and  who  looked  forward  with  pleasure  to  the  advent 
of  a  railway,  and  to  the  chances  of  employment  which  it  af¬ 
forded  them.  Indeed,  both  natives  and  foreigners  are  not 
a  little  excited  at  the  prospect  which  is  now  being  opened 
to  them,  and  which  promises  to  be  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  of 
prosperity  for  the  country. 

Note. — Since  the  above  was  written,  the  concession  has  lapsed  in  conse¬ 
quence  of  difficulties  which  arose  at  the  last  moment  in  the  formation  of 
the  company  for  carrying  out  the  enterprise ;  but  it  is  again  in  process  of  re¬ 
newal,  and  I  have  little  doubt  but  that  it  will  be  ultimately  accomplished. 


SAFED. 


Haifa,  July  10. — Next  to  Jerusalem,  the  city  most  high¬ 
ly  venerated  by  the  Jews  in  Palestine  is  Safed.  I  had  oc¬ 
casion  to  visit  it  a  few  weeks  ago  on  my  way  to  a  colony  of 
Russian  and  Roumanian  Jews  which  has  been  established 
in  the  neighbourhood.  Perched  on  the  summit  of  a  moun¬ 
tain  nearly  three  thousand  feet  high,  it  is  one  of  the  most 
picturesquely  situated  towns  in  the  country;  and  there  is  a 
tradition  to  the  effect  that  it  was  alluded  to  by  Christ  as 
“  the  city  that  is  set  on  a  hill,  and  cannot  be  hid,”  when  he 
preached  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  mount  being  sup¬ 
posed  to  be  one  of  the  Horns  of  Hattin,  a  remarkably  shaped 
hill. 

The  whole  of  this  district  is  indeed  full  of  romantic 
scenery.  It  is  a  country  of  wild  gorges  and  huge  preci¬ 
pices,  which  escape  the  attention  of  the  traveller  following 
the  beaten  routes,  and  to  most  of  them  associations  are  at¬ 
tached,  investing  them  with  an  interest  bevond  that  of  a 
mere  scenic  character.  There  is,  for  instance,  the  Wady 
Hammam,  where  the  bluffs  are  about  twelve  hundred  feet 
high,  perforated  with  caves,  communicating  with  each  other 
by  passages  concealed  in  the  rock,  once  the  abode  of  bands 
of  robbers  who  lived  like  eagles  in  their  eyries.  Looking  up 
at  these  holes  in  the  cliff  some  seven  or  eight  hundred  feet 
above  me,  I  tried  to  picture  the  terrible  battle  which  was 
once  fought  in  mid-air  between  the  denizens  of  these  caves 
and  the  soldiers  whom  Herod  let  down  the  face  of  the  cliff 
in  baskets  to  attack  them.  The  desperate  nature  of  the 
struggle,  as  the  soldiers  strove  to  make  good  their  foothold 
on  the  edge  of  the  caves,  and  the  frenzy  with  which  the  rob¬ 
bers,  who  had  no  loophole  of  escape,  must  have  defended 
themselves  as  they  endeavoured  to  hurl  their  assailants  from 
their  baskets,  suggested  a  scene  which  was  quite  in  keeping 


SAFED. 


69 


with  the  gloomy  character  of  the  surroundings.  Some  of 
the  more  accessible  of  these  caves  have  been  occupied  at  a 
later  period  by  hermits,  and  they  may  have  been  utilized  for 
military  purposes  at  the  time  of  the  crusades,  but  they  have 
never  been  thoroughly  explored. 

Just  before  reaching  Safed  there  is  a  rock  called  Akhbera, 
which  rises  five  hundred  feet  sheer  up  from  the  path,  and  is 
also  full  of  similar  caves.  Josephus  mentions  having  fortified 
it.  However  prepossessing  Safed  may  look  from  a  distance, 
it  does  not  bear  a  close  acquaintance.  Down  the  centre  of 
every  street  runs  an  open  sewer,  which  renders  it  the  most 
odoriferous  and  pestiferous  place  that  it  has  ever  been  my 
fate  to  sleep  in.  The  aspect  of  the  population  is  in  keeping 
with  the  general  smell.  One  seems  transported  into  the 
ghetto  of  some  Roumanian  or  Russian  town,  with  a  few 
Eastern  disagreeables  added.  The  population  here  have  not 
adopted  the  Oriental  costume  as  they  have  at  Tiberias,  but 
wear  the  high  hats,  greasy  gabardines,  and  ear-curls  of  the 
Jews  of  Europe.  Instead  of  Arabic,  one  hears  nothing  in 
the  streets  but  “  jargon,”  as  the  dialect  used  by  the  Jews  in 
eastern  Europe  is  called.  The  total  population  of  Ashkena¬ 
zim ,  or  German  Jews,  who  are  hived  in  this  unenviable  lo¬ 
cality,  is  betwTeen  five  and  six  thousand;  besides  these  there 
are  about  twelve  hundred  Sephardim ,  or  Spanish  Jews,  who 
wear  Oriental  costumes,  and  in  the  other  quarter  of  the  town 
from  six  to  seven  thousand  Moslems,  making  the  total  num¬ 
ber  of  inhabitants  about  fourteen  thousand. 

As  there  is  nothing  approaching  to  a  hotel  or  boarding¬ 
house  in  the  place,  I  was  of  course  dependent  on  the  na¬ 
tive  hospitality  for  board  and  lodging,  and  thus  able  to  ac¬ 
quire  an  insight  into  the  mode  of  life  of  rather  a  curious 
section  of  the  human  family.  The  majority  of  the  Jews 
here  are  supported  by  a  charitable  fund  called  the  Haluka, 
which  is  subscribed  to  by  pious  Jews  all  over  the  world  as 
a  sacred  duty,  for  the  purpose  of  providing  support  to  those 
of  their  coreligionists  who  come  here  or  to  Jerusalem  to 
pass  the  last  years  of  their  lives  in  devotional  exercises,  and 
to  die  on  the  sacred  soil.  The  practical  result  of  this  sys¬ 
tem  is  to  maintain  in  idleness  and  mendicancy  a  set  of  use¬ 
less  bigots,  who  combine  superstitious  observance  with  im- 


70 


HAIFA. 


moral  practice,  and  who,  as  a  rule,  are  opposed  to  every 
project  which  has  for  its  object  the  real  progress  of  the 
Jewish  nation.  Hence  they  regard  with  alarm  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  agricultural  colonies,  or  the  inauguration  of  an  era 
of  any  kind  of  labour  by  Jews  in  Palestine.  They  are  bit¬ 
terly  hostile  to  schools  in  which  any  secular  teaching  is  car¬ 
ried  on,  and  agree  with  those  Western  Jews  who  consider 
that  any  scheme  for  developing  the  material  resources  of 
Palestine  by  means  of  Jewish  industry  is  fantastic  and 
visionary.  It  is  due  to  the  Jewish  population  of  Safed  to 
say  that  this  spirit  does  not  prevail  among  the  younger 
members  of  it.  There  are  about  a  hundred  young  Safed 
Jews  who  actually  work  as  day-labourers  on  the  farms  of 
Moslems  and  Christians,  and  I  was  informed  by  one  of  the 
most  liberal  of  the  rabbis,  the  only  one,  in  fact,  who  was  in¬ 
clined  to  promote  Jewish  agriculture,  that  about  two  hun¬ 
dred  families  in  Safed  were  desirous  of  being  established  on 
farms,  while  several  had  owned  land  and  cultivated  it,  and 
only  abandoned  it  at  last  for  want  of  protection  against  the 
extortionate  demands  of  Turkish  tax-gatherers.  It  is  true 
that  most  of  the  Jews  at  Safed  are  under  the  protection  of 
some  European  power,  but  until  lately  no  power  has  taken 
sufficient  interest  in  the  race  to  raise  a  Jewish  question  with 
the  Turkish  government.  How  that  important  political  in¬ 
terests  are  to  be  subserved  by  doing  so,  and  the  destiny  of 
Palestine  is  likely  to  become  a  crucial  point  in  the  Eastern 
question,  both  Russia  and  France  are  seizing  every  excuse 
for  interference  and  complaint,  and  the  questions  which  are 
constantly  arising  in  regard  to  their  Jewish  proteges,  both  in 
Tiberias  and  Safed,  are  likely  to  furnish  them  with  the  pre¬ 
texts  they  desire. 

When  I  was  in  Safed,  Russia  Avas  actively  espousing  the 
cause  of  a  young  Jew* who  had  accidentally  shot  a  Moslem, 
and  over  whom  the  Turkish  government  claimed  jurisdic¬ 
tion,  on  the  ground  that,  though  a  Russian,  he  had  repudi¬ 
ated  his  allegiance  to  Russia.  As  the  youth  was  not  of  age 
at  the  time,  the  Russian  government  still  claimed  the  right 
to  protect  him  in  Turkey,  though  it  had  not  exercised  this 
right  in  Russia  itself,  from  which  country  he  had  been  com¬ 
pelled  to  flee  for  his  life.  As  I  rode  through  the  village 


SAFED. 


n 


where  the  accident  had  taken  place,  in  company  with  some 
Jews,  we  were  pelted  by  the  Moslem  population,  and,  al¬ 
though  the  release  of  the  boy  is  now  certain,  he  will  proba¬ 
bly  be  compelled  to  leave  the  country,  unless  the  relatives 
of  the  deceased  Moslem  can  be  pacified  with  the  blood-money 
that  has  been  offered  them. 

Jauna,  which  was  the  name  of  the  village  to  which  I  was 
bound,  was  situated  about  three  miles  from  Safed,  in  a  gorge, 
from  which,  as  we  descended  it,  a  magnificent  view  was  ob¬ 
tained  over  the  Jordan  valley,  with  the  Lake  of  Tiberias 
lying  three  thousand  feet  below  us  on  the  right,  and  the 
waters  of  Merom,  or  the  Lake  of  Huleh,  on  the  left.  The 
intervening  plain  was  a  rich  expanse  of  country,  only  wait¬ 
ing  development.  The  new  colony  had  been  established 
about  eight  months,  the  land  having  been  purchased  from 
the  Moslem  villagers,  of  whom  twenty  families  remained, 
who  lived  on  terms  of  perfect  amity  with  the  Jews.  These 
consisted  of  twenty -three  Roumanian  and  four  Russian 
families,  numbering  in  all  one  hundred  and  forty  souls.  The 
greater  number  were  hard  at  work  on  their  potato-patches 
when  I  arrived,  and  I  was  pleased  to  find  evidences  of  thrift 
and  industry.  A  row  of  sixteen  neat  little  houses  had  been 
built,  and  more  were  in  process  of  erection.  Altogether 
this  is  the  most  hopeful  attempt  at  a  colony  which  I  have 
seen  in  Palestine.  The  colonists  own  about  a  thousand  acres 
of  excellent  land,  which  they  were  able  to  purchase  at  from 
three  to  four  dollars  an  acre.  The  Russians  are  establishing 
themselves  about  half  a  mile  from  the  Roumanians,  as  Jews 
of  different  nationalities  easily  get  on  wrell  together.  They 
call  the  colony  Rosch  Pina,  or  “Head  of  the  Corner,”  the 
word  occurring  in  the  verse,  “  The  stone  which  the  build¬ 
ers  rejected,  the  same  is  become  the  head  of  the  corner.” 


MEIROK 


Haifa,  July  20. — One  of  the  most  interesting  and  little- 
known  spots  in  Palestine  is  the  famous  shrine  of  Jewish  pil¬ 
grimage  called  Meiron.  Hither,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
month  of  May,  Hebrews  resort  in  vast  numbers  from  all 
parts,  especially  of  the  East,  and  as  many  as  two  thousand 
are  often  encamped  there  at  a  time.  It  is  situated  in  a 
wild  part  of  the  mountains  of  central  Galilee,  on  the  edge 
of  the  most  fertile  plateau  in  the  whole  district,  where  the 
villages  are  surrounded  by  the  most  luxuriant  gardens  and 
groves,  and  the  peasantry  are  in  a  more  prosperous  condition 
than  I  have  seen  elsewhere.  Meiron  itself  is  a  wonderfully 
romantic  spot;  perched  at  an  elevation  of  twenty  five  hun¬ 
dred  feet  above  the  sea,  upon  the  northeastern  flank  of 
a  high  spur  of  the  Jebel  Jermuk  range,  it  commands  a  mag¬ 
nificent  view  of  the  surrounding  country,  with  the  town  of 
Safed,  towering  on  its  mountain-top,  distant  about  five  miles. 
A  clear,  brawling  stream  tumbles  in  a  series  of  small  cas¬ 
cades  down  the  narrow  gorge,  which  expands  just  here  suf¬ 
ficiently  to  allow  of  some  orchards  of  apricots,  figs,  and 
pomegranates ;  and  near  a  spreading  weeping-willow  there 
is  a  picturesque  old  flour-mill,  which  turns  to  advantage  so 
unusual  a  supply  of  water-power.  A  hundred  yards  or  so 
above  it  is  the  spot  sacred  to  Jewish  devotees.  A  large,  ob¬ 
long  courtyard,  around  which  runs  a  broad  stone  balcony, 
upon  which  open  chambers  crowned  with  domes,  marks  the 
site  of  the  burial-places  of  some  of  the  most  celebrated  rab¬ 
bis  of  Jewish  history,  and  forms  a  sort  of  caravansary  for 
the  pilgrims.  It  was  not  the  moment  of  the  pilgrimage  at 
the  time  of  my  visit,  and  I  had  a  choice  of  chambers.  Two 
of  these  had  been  fitted  up  most  comfortably  for  my  bene¬ 
fit,  with  beds  and  tables,  by  the  Safed  Jews  who  accom¬ 
panied  me,  and  who  did  the  honours  of  the  place.  It  was 


ME  IRON. 


73 


no  doubt  the  sacredness  of  the  tombs  at  Meiron  which  was 
the  cause  of  Safed  being  constituted  a  Jewish  colony  and 
a  holy  city.  Here  are  situated  the  tombs  of  the  Rabbi 
Jochanau  Sandelar,  of  the  celebrated  Rabbi  Simeon  ben 
Jochai,  the  reputed  author  of  the  book  of  the  Sohar,  and 
the  Father  of  the  Cabalists.  Here  repose  the  remains  of  his 
son,  the  Rabbi  Eleazer ;  but  more  celebrated  than  all  are 
the  sepulchres  of  the  great  saints  and  doctors,  Shammai 
and  Hillel.  The  thirty-six  pupils  of  the  latter  were  buried 
with  him.  He  founded  a  school  of  morals  immediately 
prior  to  the  birth  of  Christ  ;  and,  indeed,  it  is  main¬ 
tained  by  JewTs  that  all  the  ethics  of  Christianity  are  to  be 
found  in  the  teaching  of  Hillel,  to  which  Christ  simply 
gave  a  more  forcible  expression  than  it  had  hitherto  re¬ 
ceived. 

Of  all  the  tombs  that  of  Hillel  is  the  most  remarkable.  It 
is  a  huge  cavern  on  the  steep  hillside,  situated  about  half-way 
between  the  Courtyard  of  Shrines  above,  and  the  stream  be¬ 
low.  We  first  enter  a  chamber  with  loculi  hewn  out  of  the  solid 
rock  on  each  side.  Passing  through  a  doorway  cut  in  the 
rock,  we  enter  a  chamber  eighteen  feet  by  twenty-five,  with 
seven  loculi  in  recess  on  the  right,  and  the  same  number  on 
the  left,  while  facing  us  is  a  recess  eighteen  feet  deep  and 
seven  wide,  containing  four  sarcophagi  hewn  out  of  the  rock. 
On  each  side  of  this  recess  is  a  smaller  one,  each  containing 
four  loculi.  Most  of  them  are  covered  by  stone  lids  with 
raised  corners,  making  in  all  thirty-six  rock  tombs  in  this 
one  cave.  The  rocks  all  around  are  much  cut  in  places  into 
steps,  cisterns,  and  olive-presses.  There  are  also  three  dol¬ 
mens  on  the  north  side  of  Meiron;  they  are  not  far  apart, 
and  are  quite  distinct,  though  of  small  dimensions;  there  are 
no  traces  or  marks  of  any  kind  on  the  stones.  In  the  shrine 
above  these  are  chambers  which  are  pointed  out  as  tradition¬ 
al  tombs.  Hear  one  of  these  was  the  synagogue,  in  which, 
when  I  visited  it,  there  were  an  old  man  and  his  son  engaged 
in  their  devotions.  The  old  man  had  never  left  the  room 
day  or  night  for  seven  years,  having  lived  the  whole  of  that 
time  on  one  meal  a  day  of  bread  and  water,  while  he  slept 
on  a  mat  on  the  stones.  He  had  thus  become  invested  with 
the  odour  of  sanctity  in  the  eyes  of  my  Jewish  companions. 


74 


HAIFA. 


His  son,  a  boy  of  fifteen,  was  rapidly  praying  himself  into 
the  state  of  imbecility  at  which  his  venerable  parent,  by  dint 
of  swaying  his  body  to  and  fro,  and  his  unceasing  chanting, 
had  already  arrived.  He  reminded  me  of  the  Buddhist  her¬ 
mits  whom  I  have  seen  in  China  on  their  way  to  Nirvana, 
and  was  a  sight  more  painful  than  edifying.  At  the  corners 
of  the  courtyard  are  stone  erections  like  fonts,  and  some  of 
these  are  also  near  the  rock  tombs;  these,  when  the  Jewish 
festival  of  “the  burning”  takes  place,  are  filled  with  oil, 
which  is  set  on  fire,  and  rich  Jews,  desirous  of  showing  their 
devotion,  offer  to  the  flames  the  most  costly  articles  in  their 
possession.  The  richest  shawls,  scarfs,  handkerchiefs,  and  the 
rarest  books  are  dipped  in  oil  and  consumed,  and  when  any 
article  of  special  value  is  burned,  the  spectators,  who  are 
already  intoxicated  with  wine  and  excitement,  burst  forth 
with  frantic  plaudits  of  delight.  Such  was  the  account  given 
to  me  by  eye-witnesses,  but  possibly  next  year  I  may  be  able 
to  give  you  a  description  of  this  unique  and  little-known  fes¬ 
tival  from  personal  observation. 

About  fifty  yards  higher  up  the  hill  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  Jewish  ruins  existing  in  Palestine.  It  is  the  re¬ 
mains  of  a  synagogue,  which,  according  to  Jewish  tradition, 
dates  from  fifty  years  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 

It  was  about  this  time,  or  a  little  later,  that  the  Jew's  pre¬ 
sented  the  extraordinary  spectacle  of  two  regular  and  or¬ 
ganized  communities,  one  under  a  sort  of  spiritual  head,  the 
Patriarch  of  Tiberias,  comprehending  all  of  Israelitish  de¬ 
scent  vTho  inhabited  the  Roman  Empire  ;  the  other  under 
the  Prince  of  the  Captivity,  to  whom  all  the  Eastern  Jews 
paid  their  allegiance.  The  Romans  recognized  the  Patriarch- 
ship  of  Tiberias,  granted  it  special  privileges,  and  the  Jew¬ 
ish  colony  round  Tiberias  under  its  auspices  became  very 
powerful.  Schools  of  Talmudic  learning  wTere  established, 
and  the  most  celebrated  rabbis  wrote,  and,  in  fact,  stamped 
with  theiiTearning  the  Judaism  which  has  felt  their  influence 
to  the  present  day.  Then  it  was  that  Meiron  became  their 
place  of  burial,  and  that  the  largest  and  most  ancient  syna¬ 
gogue  of  which  we  have  any  traces  wras  built  at  Meiron. 
The  site  of  the  synagogue  was  chosen  on  the  eastern  side  of 
a  rocky  mound,  and  the  western  side  and  floor  were  excavated 


MEIRON. 


75 


out  of  the  solid  rock.  The  whole  of  the  area  is  ninety  feet 
by  fifty.  Pieces  of  columns  are  lying  about,  with  pedestals 
and  capitals,  but  many  of  the  finest  fragments  have  rolled 
down  the  eastern  slope.  The  edifice  fronted  the  south,  and 
here  the  facade  remains,  with  a  fine  portal  of  large  hewn 
blocks  of  stone,  and  a  side  door.  Some  of  the  stones  are 
four  and  a  half  feet  long  by  two  and  a  half  thick.  The 
portal  is  ten  and  a  half  feet  high  by  five  and  a  half 
wide.  Its  side-posts  are  each  of  a  single  stone  elaborately 
sculptured.  The  sculptured  lintel  projects  somewhat  above 
the  side-posts,  but  I  could  see  nothing  of  the  Hebrew  in¬ 
scription  which  some  of  the  old  writers  mention  as  being 
over  the  door.  The  centre  stone  was  shaken  out  of  its  place 
by  the  earthquake  of  1837.  Altogether,  the  situation  and  gen¬ 
eral  aspect  of  this  singular  ruin,  projecting  as  it  does  out  of 
the  overhanging  solid  rock,  is  full  of  picturesque  as  well  as 
of  historical  interest.  Meiron  is  probably  mentioned  by 
Josephus  as  Meroth,  a  place  fortified  by  him  in  Upper  Gali¬ 
lee.  Dr.  Thomson  identifies  it  with  the  Meroz,  so  bitterly 
cursed  by  Deborah  because  the  inhabitants  would  not  join 
the  expedition  of  Barak.  And,  in  confirmation  of  this,  there 
is  a  fountain  near  Meiron  called  to  this  day  by  the  Jews 
Deborah’s  fountain,  but  the  Sephardim  rabbi,  who  was  my 
guide,  philosopher,  and  friend  at  Meiron,  identified  it  with 
Shimrom-Meron,  whose  king  was  one  of  the  thirty-one 
mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Joshua  as  having  been  smitten  by 
him  on  entering  Canaan. 

A  great  part  of  the  village  belonged  to  the  rabbi,  and, 
with  a  view  of  encouraging  agriculture  among  his  core¬ 
ligionists,  he  had  put  six  Jewish  families  from  Morocco  on 
the  land,  who  were  accustomed  to  farming,  and  were  doing 
well.  Besides  these  there  were  twelve  Moslem  families, 
which  completed  the  population  of  the  village.  I  was  much 
struck  by  the  good-feeling  which  existed  between  them  and 
the  Jews,  the  sheik  whom  I  visited  speaking  in  the  highest 
terms  of  the  latter,  as  being  hard-working  and  excellent  ag¬ 
riculturists.  Indeed,  in  walking  over  the  village  lands, 
those  which  were  cultivated  by  Jewish  labour  compared  fa¬ 
vourably  with  the  crops  of  the  Fellahin.  Altogether,  I  was 
so  much  attracted  by  Meiron  and  its  neighbourhood,  which 


76 


HAIFA. 


is  full  of  interesting  remains  that  have  not  yet  been  thorough¬ 
ly  examined,  from  an  antiquarian  point  of  view,  that  I  pro¬ 
pose  paying  it  another  visit. 

Behind  Meiron  rises  Jebel  Jermuk,  the  highest  mountain 
in  western  Palestine.  I  scrambled  up  it  one  day,  finding  my¬ 
self  as  I  did  so  in  the  midst  of  the  wildest  scenery  to  the 
west  of  the  Jordan.  Here  villages  were  few  and  far  be¬ 
tween.  Nothing  was  to  be  seen  but  rocky  gorges  and 
wild  hillsides,  trackless,  excepting  where  the  goats  follow 
each  other  in  search  of  herbage,  but  with  a  grand  and  sav¬ 
age  beauty  which  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  with  the  idea 
that  they  ever  supported  a  large  population.  Probably, 
even  in  the  most  flourishing  days  of  Palestine,  these  high¬ 
lands  were  always  its  wildest  parts,  and  there  are  compara¬ 
tively  few  ancient  sites  or  traces  of  ruins  in  the  remote  re¬ 
cesses  of  these  mountains.  Jebel  Jermuk  rears  its  rounded 
summit  to  a  height  of  four  thousand  feet  above  the  sea-level, 
and  about  three  hundred  feet  below  the  top  are  the  ruins  of 
a  village  which  was  abandoned  about  twenty  years  ago  by 
twelve  Jewish  families,  which  formed  its  entire  population, 
and  who  were  all  cultivators  of  the  soil  and  owners  of  flocks 
and  herds.  In  those  days  it  was  the  highest  inhabited  spot 
in  Palestine,  and  it  is  wonderful  to  think  its  pure  mountain 
air  should  not  have  protected  the  inhabitants  against  cholera, 
which  was  then  decimating  the  country.  So  far  from  such 
being  the  case,  nearly  the  whole  male  population  was  car¬ 
ried  off,  and  the  village  was  abandoned,  and  finally  be¬ 
came  the  property  of  a  Druse  village  about  three  miles  dis¬ 
tant.  The  stone  walls  of  the  houses  are  still  standing,  and 
there  is  a  well  of  delicious  water,  shaded  by  trees,  making 
the  spot  altogether  a  desirable  retreat  from  the  summer  heats 
and  a  healthy  locality  for  a  colony,  if  it  were  not  so  inacces¬ 
sible.  These  mountains  are  not  frequented  by  Bedouin 
Arabs,  and  need  nothing  but  roads  and  cultivation  to  make 
many  now  barren  spots  fertile  and  profitable.  The  more  one 
travels  over  the  less-frequented  parts  of  the  country,  the 
more  one  is  struck  with  the  extent  of  its  undeveloped  re¬ 
sources  and  with  the  possible  future  which  is  in  store  for  it. 


THE  FEAST  OF  ST.  ELIAS. 


Haifa,  July  31. — The  greatest  religious  festival  of  the 
year  in  these  parts  takes  place  on  the  20th  of  July  at  the 
Monastery  of  Mount  Carmel,  and  is  called  the  Feast  of  St. 
Elias.  It  does  not  rank  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
generally  as  one  of  the  highest  importance,  but  among  the 
Maronites,  Melchites,  and  the  Latin  Oriental  Church,  as 
well  as  among  the  Carmelites  themselves,  it  is  par  excellence 
the  great  annual  ecclesiastical  event.  From  all  parts  of  Pal¬ 
estine  worshippers  of  all  ranks  flock  to  the  sacred  grotto,  and 
on  the  evening  before  the  saint’s  day  as  many  as  five  or  six 
thousand  souls  are  often  assembled  on  the  rugged  prom¬ 
ontory  and  in  the  enclosures  surrounding  the  monastery. 
Hither  I  repaired  about  six  o’clock  on  the  evening  of  the 
19th,  and  sipped  coffee,  smoked  cigarettes,  and  chatted  with 
the  reverend  fathers,  while  I  looked  out  of  the  iron-barred 
windows  on  the  multitude  assembling  beneath  them.  It 
was  composed  for  the  most  part  of  venders  of  fruit,  sweet¬ 
meats,  and  refreshments  of  all  sorts,  who  were  establishing 
their  stalls  for  the  night  in  sheltered  nooks,  for  the  feast 
begins  at  midnight,  and  is  carried  on  till  nine  o’clock  next 
day,  being,  in  fact,  a  species  of  religious  orgy,  which  ap¬ 
pears  to  have  great  fascination  for  the  native  Christian 
mind.  It  must  be  admitted  that  devotions  which  consist 
chiefly  in  dancing  and  drinking,  with  an  occasional  free 
fight,  all  through  the  small  hours  of  the  morning,  are  re¬ 
ligious  exercises  of  a  kind  not  unlikely  to  attract  the  coun¬ 
try  people,  who  go  in  for  a  sort  of  holy  spree  on  a  scale  of 
large  proportions.  This  year,  however,  a  general  panic 
which  pervaded  the  country  in  consequence  of  the  cholera 
in  Egypt  reduced  the  numbers  materially,  especially  of  the 
Fellahin,  among  whom  all  kinds  of  absurd  rumours  were 
prevalent  that  the  disease  had  spread  to  Haifa,  and  that  the 


78 


HAIFA. 


monastery  itself  was  in  quarantine.  After  watching  the 
picturesque  arrivals  for  some  time,  I  declined  an  invitation, 
to  spend  the  night  in  the  monastery,  and  determined  to  re¬ 
turn  next  morning  at  five  o’clock,  when  I  was  assured  that 
the  fun  would  be  fast  and  furious. 

As  I  approached  at  that  hour  my  expectations  wTere  ex¬ 
cited  by  the  reports  of  the  discharge  of  pistols  and  guns, 
and  the  sounds  of  the  discordant  chorus-chanting  which 
forms  the  usual  accompaniment  to  the  native  dances.  Pass¬ 
ing  under  the  archway  and  entering  the  large  courtyard  of 
the  monastery,  I  found  it  nearly  full  of  excited  groups  in 
large  circles,  their  arms  clasped  around  each  other’s  necks, 
swaying  their  bodies  to  and  fro,  and  keeping  time  with 
their  feet  to  their  songs,  while  they  occasionally  waved  their 
arms  aloft  and  fired  in  the  air.  This  is  the  regular  Syrian 
dance  of  the  towns,  and  it  is  sufficiently  monotonous.  The 
Fellahin,  however,  have  a  far  more  picturesque  perform¬ 
ance,  in  which  the  girls,  in  bright-coloured  garments,  join, 
dancing  singly,  or  in  twos  and  threes.  Of  these,  unfortu¬ 
nately,  there  were  very  few.  No  doubt  it  was  in  consequence 
of  the  small  attendance  that  there  had  not  been  so  much 
drinking  as  usual,  and  I  only  saw  one  man  captured  by  half 
a  dozen  Turkish  soldiers,  who  must  have  a  curious  idea  of 
Christian  devotions,  for  an  improper  use  of  his  fist. 

About  this  time  the  guest-chambers  and  corridors  of  the 
monastery — where  families  of  the  better  class  who  had  come 
from  Acre,  Tyre,  Nazareth,  Jaffa,  and  other  towns  had 
passed  the  night,  in  the  lodging  provided  for  them — began 
to  disgorge,  and  the  variety  of  costume  displayed  by  the 
shouting,  singing,  and  dancing  multitude  formed  a  scene 
sufficiently  picturesque  and  animated.  Sometimes  proces¬ 
sions  are  formed,  where  offerings  are  made  to  the  miracle- 
working  statue  of  Notre  Dame  de  Mont  Carmel,  in  return 
for  a  child  that  has  been  prayed  for,  or  a  sick  person  who 
has  been  healed,  but  on  this  occasion  her  protection  did  not 
seem  to  have  been  invoked,  or,  at  all  events,  there  was  no 
public  display  of  gratitude.  There  is  a  large  terrace  in 
front  of  the  monastery,  and  here  a  dozen  horsemen  or  so 
were  throwing  the  djerrid  and  exhibiting  their  equestrian 
skill,  much  to  the  detriment  of  the  unfortunate  animals  they 


THE  FEAST  OF  ST.  ELIAS. 


79 


bestrode,  whose  flanks  were  bleeding  profusely  from  the 
pointed  angles  of  the  iron  stirrups  which  serve  as  spurs,  and 
from  the  cruel  bits  by  which,  when  going  at  full  speed,  they 
were  jerked  back  upon  their  haunches. 

While  all  this  wTas  going  on  outside,  mass  wTas  being  per¬ 
formed  in  the  church  for  those  who  wished  to  vary  the  enter¬ 
tainment.  This  is  a  spacious,  vaulted  building  in  the  form  of 
a  Greek  cross,  wflth  a  fine-toned  organ  in  one  transept,  and  a 
statue  of  the  miraculous  Ladv  of  Mount  Carmel,  between  four 
Corinthian  columns,  seated  on  a  sort  of  throne  in  a  richly 
decorated  dress  of  white  satin,  in  the  other.  Both  the  Vir¬ 
gin  and  the  Infant  in  her  arms  had  golden  crowns  on  their 
heads,  the  result  of  a  miracle,  for  when  the  Frere  Jean  Bap¬ 
tiste  undertook  the  reconstruction  of  the  monastery  fifty 
years  ago,  he  intrusted  the  carving  of  the  statue  to  Caraven- 
ta,  a  sculptor  of  Genoa,  and,  not  having  money  enough  to 
buy  her  a  crown  suitable  to  her  position,  procured  her  one 
of  silver,  and  one  of  copper  gilt  for  the  Child,  saying  as  he 
did  so,  “  You  will  know  how  to  procure  yourself  a  better 
one;”  and  this  she  achieved  shortly  after  at  Naples,  where 
a  rich  nobleman  presented  her  with  two  in  return  for  a  mi¬ 
raculous  cure  of  wThich  he  was  the  subject.  There  is  a  book 
sold  in  the  monastery  containing  a  list  of  the  miracles  that 
have  been  performed  by  this  statue,  which  was  gazed  upon 
with  the  greatest  awe  and  veneration  by  the  country  people. 
They  prostrate  themselves  before  her,  touching  the  ground 
with  their  foreheads,  and  offering  up  their  supplications 
after  a  fashion  that  would  shock  an  enlightened  Buddhist 
by  the  superstition  and  credulity  thus  suggested.  On  each 
side  of  the  figure  are  two  altars,  one  dedicated  to  St.  Jean 
Baptiste,  and  the  other  to  St.  Simon  Stock,  an  English¬ 
man,  who  was  made  Prior-General  of  the  Order  of  Carmel¬ 
ites  in  1245,  and  who  in  his  day  did  more  than  any  other  to 
increase  their  renown.  On  the  right  of  this  is  the  statue  of 
Elijah  slaying  a  prophet  of  Baal,  which  was  sculptured  at 
Barcelona  by  Dom  Amedeo.  The  prophet  has  got  his  false 
rival  on  the  ground  between  his  feet,  and,  with  uplifted 
sword,  is  in  the  act  of  cutting  his  head  off.  He  is  hung 
round  with  votive  offerings,  and  worshippers  crowd  around 
to  touch  some  part  of  the  statue,  and  then  kiss  the  finger 


80 


HAIFA. 


that  has  touched  it.  On  a  table  in  front  a  monk  was  selling 
engravings  to  the  worshippers.  I  bought  one  of  these,  rep¬ 
resenting  Elijah  sending  Elisha  to  look  for  the  sign  of  rain. 
In  the  distance  is  the  small  cloud,  no  bigger  than  a  man’s 
hand,  and  emerging  from  it  is  the  figure  of  the  Virgin  and 
Child,  for  the  Roman  Catholic  tradition  has  it  that  in  this 
cloud  was  revealed  to  the  prophet  the  dogma  of  the  immac¬ 
ulate  conception,  in  which  he  was  a  firm  believer  from  that 
time  forward. 

Descending  a  few  rock-cut  steps  close  to  this  image,  we 
find  ourselves  in  the  cave  of  Elijah,  a  small  grotto  about  ten 
feet  by  fifteen,  at  one  end  of  which  is  an  altar,  which  the 
devotees  firmly  believe  is  the  actual  rock  that  he  used  as 
his  bed.  Here  a  priest  was  performing  mass.  The  body  of 
the  church  was  full  of  devotees,  for  the  most  part  women 
in  white  burnooses,  who  squatted  on  the  ground,  and  seemed 
principally  engaged  in  suckling  their  babies. 

The  monastery  derives  a  considerable  revenue  from  these 
celebrations,  as  in  good  seasons  votive  offerings  to  a  large 
value  are  brought;  but  the  chief  source  of  its  wealth  is  de¬ 
rived  from  the  sale  of  indulgences,  or  at  least  what  virtually 
amounts  to  this.  By  these  means  it  exercises  a  very  powerful 
moral  as  vffil  as  financial  influence  all  through  the  country, 
and  as  the  Christian  population,  which  is  subject  to  it,  is  very 
large  in  proportion  to  the  Moslem  in  the  neighbourhood,  and 
as  it  is  under  the  exclusive  protectorate  of  France,  this  influ¬ 
ence  partakes  also  of  a  very  distinct  political  character.  In 
fact,  the  Christians  of  the  whole  of  this  district  enjoy  a  far 
more  efficient  protection  against  the  oppression  of  the  Turk¬ 
ish  government  than  do  the  Moslems  themselves. 

The  ‘monastery  is  a  modern  building,  and  if  it  only  had 
a  tall  chimney  instead  of  a  cupola  it  would  look  more  like  a 
manufactory  than  a  religious  edifice.  The  top  of  the  cupola 
is  five  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  which 
is  immediately  beneath,  and  commands  a  magnificent  view. 
When  Napoleon  besieged  Acre  in  1199,  and  was  compelled 
to  raise  the  siege  and  retreat,  the  Turks  fell  upon  the  wounded 
French  soldiers  who  were  left  in  hospital  here  and  massa¬ 
cred  them  to  a  man.  The  convent  was,  of  course,  deserted, 
and  soon  after  fell  into  ruin.  For  twenty-seven  years  this 


THE  FEAST  OF  ST.  ELIAS. 


81 


much  venerated  spot  was  abandoned,  but  the  order  to  which 
it  had  given  its  name  never  ceased  to  agitate  for  the  restora¬ 
tion  of  its  sanctuarv,  and  the  work  of  reconstruction  was 
finally  undertaken  in  1826,  by  Jean  Baptiste,  and  completed 
in  1853.  So  the  present  building  is  only  thirty  years  old. 
In  front  of  the  main  terrace  is  a  flower  -  garden  and  some 
trellised  vines,  in  the  centre  of  which  is  a  pyramid  sur¬ 
mounted  by  a  cross,  with  an  inscription  to  the  effect  that  it 
commemorates  the  resting-place  of  the  bones  of  the  French 
soldiers.  It  was  not  till  five  years  after  their  massacre  that 
Father  Jules  du  St.  Sauveur  ventured  back  to  the  moun¬ 
tain,  where  he  found  these  melancholy  traces  of  the  tragedy 
scattered  among  the  ruins,  and,  collecting  them,  hid  them 
in  a  cave  until,  under  more  auspicious  circumstances,  they 
could  receive  a  Christian  burial.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  order  is  now  increasing  in  wealth  and  influence,  and 
expectation  runs  high  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when 
northern  Palestine  will  become  a  French  province,  and  when 
its  prosperity  will  be  still  further  secured. 

G 


A  SUMMER  CAMP  OU  CARMEL. 


Esfia,  Aug.  20. — The  fact  that  the  cholera  was  raging  in 
Egypt,  that  in  the  ordinary  course  of  events  it  was  certain 
to  visit  Syria,  that  even  if  it  did  not,  the  months  of  July, 
August,  and  September  are  disagreeably  hot  at  Haifa,  de¬ 
termined  me  to  make  the  experiment  of  camping  out  on  the 
highest  point  of  Carmel,  and  I  am  at  this  moment  sitting 
under  a  Bedouin  tent,  arranged  after  a  fashion  of  my  own, 
at  an  altitude  of  eighteen  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea,  upon  which  I  look  down  in  two  opposite  directions. 

On  the  northwest,  distant  six  miles,  curves  the  Bay  of 
Acre,  with  the  town  itself  glistening  white  in  the  distance ; 
and  on  the  southwest,  distant  seven  miles,  the  Mediterranean 
breaks  upon  the  beach  that  bounds  the  plain  of  Sharon,  and 
with  a  good  glass  I  can  make  out  the  outlines  of  the  ruins 
of  the  old  port  of  Caesarea.  Southward  are  the  confused 
hills  known  as  the  mountains  of  Samaria;  beyond  them,  in 
the  blue  haze,  I  can  indistinctly  see  the  highlands  of  Gilead; 
while  nearer  still,  Mount  Gilboa,  Mount  Tabor,  the  Xaza- 
reth  range,  with  a  house  or  two  of  that  town  visible,  and 
Mount  Hermon,  rising  behind  the  high  ranges  of  northern 
Galilee,  are  all  comprised  in  a  prospect  unrivalled  in  its  pan¬ 
oramic  extent  and  in  the  interest  attached  to  the  localities 
upon  which  the  eye  rests  in  every  direction.  I  was  some 
time  picking  out  just  the  spot  on  which  to  camp,  so  many 
advantageous  sites  suggested  themselves,  but  the  paramount 
necessity  of  being  near  a  village  for  security  and  supplies, 
and,  above  all,  near  a  good  spring,  decided  me  in  favour  of 
my  present  location;  and  as  the  conditions  under  which  I 
have  brought  a  large  party  up  to  the  top  of  this  somewhat 
inaccessible  mountain  and  planted  them  upon  it  are  novel, 
I  venture  to  think  that  an  account  of  our  experience  may 
prove  interesting. 


A  SUMMER  CAMP  ON  CARMEL. 


83 


In  the  first  place,  the  village  itself  was  out  of  the  ques¬ 
tion,  partly  because  Arab  houses,  as  a  rule,  do  not  consist  of 
more  than  one  room,  and  even  when  one  has  turned  out  their 
human  inhabitants,  it  still  remains  tenanted  by  so  many 
others  of  a  carnivorous  character,  though  minute  in  size, 
that  existence  becomes  a  burden;  and  partly  because  they 
are  pervaded  with  a  singular  odour  of  burnt  manure,  which 
the  natives  use  as  fuel  for  the  ovens  in  which  they  bake 
their  bread,  and  which  is  too  pungent  to  be  agreeable  to 
unsophisticated  nostrils.  After  inhaling  it  for  a  month  I 
have  got  rather  to  like  it  than  otherwise.  As  I  suspected 
that  such  might  be  the  case,  and  believed  that  a  successful 
war  might  be  waged  against  the  insects,  I  decided  on  hiring 
one  of  these  rooms  as  a  guest-chamber  and  a  place  of  resort 
from  the  midday  sun,  in  case  the  camp  did  not  prove  a  suf¬ 
ficient  protection.  This  room  was  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  a  vault  like  a  cellar,  with  stone  walls  and  a  stone  roof, 
supported  by  cross  arches,  about  twenty  feet  by  thirty ;  and 
I  may  here  mention  that  the  precaution  turned  out  wise,  for 
we  got  fairly  rid  of  the  fleas,  and  the  temperature  in  the 
middle  of  the  day,  when  we  usually  repair  to  it  for  our  siesta , 
has  never  been  over  80°.  But  how  to  make  a  camp  which 
should  accommodate  three  ladies  and  four  gentlemen  was  a 
serious  question.  We  had  one  European  tent  capable  of 
holding  two  people,  and  a  smaller  one  for  a  bachelor  of 
modest  requirements  in  the  way  of  standing-room,  and  these 
we  supplemented  with  a  tent  which  we  hired  of  some  neigh¬ 
bouring  Bedouins,  wdiicli  was  thirty  feet  long,  but  which, 
when  pitched  according  to  their  fashion,  was  an  impossible 
habitation  for  civilized  beings,  as  it  had  no  walls.  Indeed, 
the  whole  breadth  of  the  black  camel’s-hair  cloth  of  which 
it  was  composed  was  only  ten  feet.  We  therefore  decided 
on  using  it  merely  as  a  roof,  and  sent  down  to  Haifa  for 
a  camel  load  of  light  lumber  in  order  to  make  a  frame  on 
which  to  stretch  it.  We  also  got  up  two  dozen  cheap  mats, 
six  feet  square,  at  twenty-five  cents  apiece.  With  these  we 
made  front  and  back  walls  and  partitions  for  sleeping  cribs. 
Finally  our  erection,  on  which  we  proudly  hoisted  the  na¬ 
tional  flag,  Avas  thirty-four  feet  long,  ten  feet  wide,  seven 
feet  high  in  front  and  five  feet  in  rear.  These  mats  can  be 


84 


HAIFA. 


triced  up  in  front  and  rear  in  the  daytime  so  as  to  allow  a 
free  circulation  of  air.  On  the  roof,  in  order  to  keep  the 
sun  from  heating  too  fiercely  upon  us,  we  spread  branches 
of  the  odorous  bay-tree,  with  which  the  scrubby  woods  of 
the  mountain  abound,  and  of  these  same  branches  we  erected 
a  kitchen,  and  stable  for  the  horse  and  three  donkeys  which 
composed  our  establishment.  The  thermometer  usually  fell 
to  70°  at  night,  and  there  were  heavy  morning  dews  and 
fogs.  _  t 

It  was  no  slight  task  selecting  the  furniture,  bedding, 
cooking-utensils,  and  comestibles  for  a  party  of  seven,  and 
it  took  eight  camels,  besides  sundry  donkeys,  to  carry  all  our 
necessaries.  In  order  to  understand  the  nature  of  the  path 
over  which  we  had  to  travel,  the  reader  must  get  rid  of  the 
popular  notion  conveyed  by  the  word  “  Mount,”  which  is 
usually  applied  to  Carmel,  that  it  is  a  solitary  hill.  So  far 
from  such  being  the  case,  it  is  a  mountainous  district  about 
fourteen  miles  long  and  twelve  wide  at  its  base.  It  culmi¬ 
nates  in  a  promontory,  which  projects  into  the  sea  at  its 
apex,  but  we  are  established  ten  miles  from  Haifa,  the  path 
ascending  abruptly  from  that  town,  and  following  for  near¬ 
ly  three  hours’  travel  the  backbone  of  the  ridge,  disclosing 
views  of  wondrous  beauty  down  gorges  on  the  right  and 
left.  It  is  “a  rocky  road  to  travel”  for  a  delicate  lady, 
involving  steep,  precipitous  ascents,  for  which  sure-footed 
donkeys  are  best ;  but  we  were  obliged  to  resort  to  a  chair 
and  a  litter,  each  carried  by  four  bearers,  who,  as  they  stum¬ 
bled  and  clambered  up  the  narrow  path,  seemed  bent  upon 
capsizing  their  human  burdens.  Now,  however,  that  we 
have  safely  endured  the  perils  of  the  way,  we  are  amply  re¬ 
paid  for  them. 

The  nights  and  mornings  are  of  ideal  beauty.  The  ef¬ 
fects  of  sunrise  and  sunset,  ever  varying,  over  the  vast  land¬ 
scape  that  stretches  around  and  beneath  us,  are  a  constant 
source  of  wonder  and  delight.  From  the  vine-covered  ter- 
race  on  which  our  camp  is  situated  we  look  down  a  wild, 
rocky,  precipitous  gorge  eighteen  hundred  feet  upon  the 
plain  of  the  Kishon,  scarce  a  mile  distant,  so  steep  is  it.  To 
the  right  this  gorge  widens  into  an  amphitheatre,  and  the 
hillsides,  sloping  more  gently,  are  terraced  with  vines,  figs, 


A  SUMMER  CAMP  ON  CARMEL. 


85 


and  pomegranates,  and  at  its  head  is  the  copious  spring 
which  supplies  us  with  water,  to  which  one  of  our  donkeys 
makes  several  pilgrimages  a  day  with  a  large  earthen  jar 
slung  in  a  straw  cradle  on  each  side.  Here,  morning  and 
evening,  files  of  Druse  women  resort,  and  stand  and  gossip 
round  the  cistern  into  which  the  water  gushes  from  the 
rock,  their  bright-coloured  dresses  forming  a  charming  con¬ 
trast  with  the  dark-green  foliage  of  the  gardens  and  or¬ 
chards  that  are  irrigated  in  the  immediate  vicinity.  Be¬ 
sides  about  five  hundred  Druses  there  are  fifty  Christians 
in  the  village,  who  do  not  harmonize  with  the  Druses  very 
well,  and  there  is  a  hot  rivalry  for  our  favour,  so  that  we 
have  to  exercise  a  considerable  amount  of  diplomacy  to 
keep  on  good  terms  with  all. 

We  have  hired  the  vault  from  a  Christian,  and  his  family 
next  door  consists  of  his  stepmother  and  four  half-sisters, 
strapping,  good-looking  wenches,  who  are  not  yet  married, 
for  lack  of  the  necessary  dowers.  With  them  is  staying  a 
cousin  from  Acre,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  women  I  have 
ever  seen,  quite  Caucasian  in  type  and  complexion,  which  is 
white  and  transparent  as  that  of  any  Western  beauty.  We 
have  great  difficulty  in  keeping  this  bevy  of  damsels  out  of 
our  room,  as  Arabs  have  no  idea  of  privacy,  and  they  im¬ 
agine  that  politeness  consists  in  squatting  round  in  a  circle 
and  asking  silly  questions.  Excepting  for  the  practice  it 
gives  one  in  Arabic,  and  for  a  certain  insight  which  one  thus 
gains  into  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  natives,  these 
visits  would  be  intolerable,  and,  indeed,  we  have  found  it 
necessary  to  take  stringent  measures  to  limit  them.  It  is 
more  interesting  to  go  and  sit  in  the  cool  veranda  outside 
of  the  little  Druse  place  of  worship,  and  talk  to  the  bright 
young  man  who  is  passing  most  of  his  time  in  studying  the 
abstruse  metaphysical  system  of  his  religion,  and  who  is  far 
more  intelligent  than  the  Syrian  Catholic  priest,  who  also 
comes  and  sits  and  smokes  with  us  with  the  view  of  obtain¬ 
ing,  which  he  has  not  yet  succeeded  in  doing,  some  knowl¬ 
edge  of  our  own  religious  belief.  Now  and  then  an  episode 
occurs  illustrating  the  conditions  of  native  existence  in  these 
parts.  One  day  I  found  the  village  excited  at  an  outrage 
which  a  native  mounted  policeman  had  perpetrated.  On 


88 


HAIFA. 


learning  that  lie  had  assaulted  not  merely  one  of  the  vil¬ 
lagers,  but  my  own  servant,  who  had  refused  him  access  to 
our  vault,  I  indicted  a  little  corporal  punishment  upon  him, 
when  his  officer  and  the  village  notables  interfered,  and  in¬ 
terceded  in  his  behalf.  I  asked  the  latter  why  they  were 
not  glad  to  see  a  man  punished  who,  like  the  rest  of  his 
class,  was  forever  persecuting  them ;  they  said  that  when  I 
was  gone  he  would  come  back  and  take  his  revenge  upon 
them.  I  finally  made  the  man  apologize  to  the  Druse  he 
had  assaulted,  and  to  my  servant,  all  which  he  did  very 
humbly,  fearing  that  unless  he  did  so  I  should  insist  upon 
his  receiving  a  still  severer  punishment  from  the  Caimacan, 
or  local  governor,  at  Haifa.  The  villagers  were  very  grate¬ 
ful  to  see  one  of  this  arrogant  and  overbearing  class  hum¬ 
bled,  but  they  say  that  unless  one  can  stay  and  protect  them 
their  last  state  will  be  worse  than  their  first. 


THE  DRUSES  OF  MOUNT  CARMEL. 


In  Camp,  Mount  Carmel,  Sept.  10. — It  is  not  generally 
known  that  the  Druse  nation  extends  as  far  south  as  Car¬ 
mel.  The  most  southern  village  occupied  by  them  in  Syria  is 
at  Dalieh,  about  two  miles  from  my  present  camp;  their  most 
northern  home  is  at  Aleppo.  W hen,  nine  hundred  years  ago, 
Duruzi,  the  teacher  from  whom  they  take  their  name,  came 
from  Egypt  to  spread  his  new  teaching,  it  was  accepted  by 
a  tribe  of  people  who  lived  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Aleppo, 
whither  they  had  originally  migrated  from  the  province  of 
Yemen,  in  Arabia.  Adopting  the  new  and  mysterious  faith, 
which,  while  it  is  a  most  interesting  metaphysical  and  theo¬ 
logical  study,  is  too  recondite  to  enter  upon  here,  the  body 
of  the  tribe  migrated  south,  took  possession  of  the  val¬ 
leys  of  the  southern  Lebanon,  and  made  their  headquar¬ 
ters  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Hermon.  Spreading  east  from 
there,  they  crossed  the  tract  known  in  ancient  times  as 
Iturea,  and  found  a  natural  fortress  in  the  volcanic  re¬ 
gion  anciently  called  Trachonitis,  the  Biblical  Argob,  and 
in  the  mountains  now  called  the  Jebel  Druse.  Here  they 
increased  and  multiplied,  and  in  the  early  part  of  the  seven¬ 
teenth  century  produced  that  most  remarkable  warrior 
Fakr-Eddin,  the  only  man  of  note  of  whom  the  Druses  can 
boast.  He  conquered  Beyrout  and  the  southern  coast 
towns,  extending  his  sway  as  far  south  as  Carmel,  and  as 
far  east  as  Tiberias;  and  under  his  auspices  the  mountains 
of  Galilee  and  Carmel  became  settled  by  Druses. 

It  is,  therefore,  not  much  more  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  since  the  Druses  first  came  to  Carmel,  and  it  is 
probable  that  when  they  did  so  they  found  the  mountain 
wholly  unoccupied,  excepting  by  a  few  Christian  hermits 
and  devotees  who  lived  in  its  caves  —  for  the  Carmelite 
monks  had  been  driven  away  and  their  monastery  destroyed 


88 


HAIFA. 


three  hundred  years  before;  and,  indeed,  it  was  only  at  the 
time  of  the  Druse  occupation  that  the  first  attempt  was 
made  to  restore  it.  For  the  two  centuries  during;  which 
the  crusaders  held  the  Holy  Land  prior  to  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  Carmel  was  occupied  by  them,  and  the 
remains  of  their  military  posts  are  still  to  be  found  on 
many  of  the  summits  of  the  mountain  ;  indeed,  many  of 
the  old  stones  of  which  the  village  of  Esfia  is  built,  near 
which  my  camp  is  situated,  bear  their  devices  carved  on 
them.  Before  the  time  of  the  crusaders  there  may  have 
been  Moslem  villages  on  Carmel,  but  its  glory  departed 
when  Palestine  vras  conquered  by  the  Saracens  in  the 
seventh  century,  and  the  last  remains  of  Homan  civilization, 
the  traces  of  which  still  cover  the  mountain,  were  de¬ 
stroyed. 

About  the  time  of  Christ,  and  for  four  or  five  centuries 
afterwards,  it  must  have  been  in  its  full  loveliness,  its  hill¬ 
sides  terraced  with  vineyards  or  clothed  with  magnificent 
forests,  and  its  summits  crowned  with  towns  adorned  with 
the  grace  and  beauty  of  the  architecture  of  the  period. 
The  discoveries  I  have  made  in  proof  of  this  I  will  post¬ 
pone  to  another  letter,  as  my  intention  now  is  to  describe 
the  present  population  by  which  the  mountain  is  inhabited. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  to  this  day  there  are  no  Moslems 
on  Carmel  proper.  There  are  five  or  six  Moslem  villages 
at  its  base,  on  the  various  sides  of  the  triangle  which  com¬ 
prises  the  district,  and  they  have  lands  running  up  into  the 
mountain;  but  the  actual  population  consists  of  two  Druse 
villages,  numbering  together  about  eight  hundred  souls,  and 
about  fifty  Christians,  besides  the  twenty-five  monks  who 
inhabit  the  monastery.  The  mountain  is  nevertheless  capa¬ 
ble  of  containing  a  population  of  many  thousands,  as  it  evi¬ 
dently  did  in  old  times,  and  is  a  much  larger  district  than  is 
popularly  supposed. 

The  eastern  side,  from  the  apex  of  the  triangle,  is  thirteen 
miles  in  length,  the  western  twelve,  and  the  base  nine,  giv¬ 
ing  a  total  circumference  to  this  highland  region  of  thirty- 
four  miles.  The  tract  comprised  in  this  area  is  beautifully 
diversified  by  wild  gorges,  grassy  valleys,  level  or  undulat¬ 
ing  plateaus  covered  with  underwood,  and  rocky  summits; 


THE  DRUSES  OF  MOUNT  CARMEL. 


89 


and  the  scenery  in  places  is  as  romantic  as  can  well  "be 
imagined.  The  two  Druse  villages  of  Esfia  and  Dalieh  are 
situated  two  miles  apart,  about  three  quarters  of  the  way 
down  the  triangle  from  its  apex  (the  projecting  promontory 
on  which  the  monastery  is  built),  and  occupy  the  most  fer¬ 
tile  part  of  the  mountain. 

When  the  Druses  first  settled  here  they  founded  no 
fewer  than  eight  villages,  but  when,  forty  years  ago,  this 
country  was  conquered  by  Egypt  and  governed  by  Ibrahim 
Pacha,  his  rule  was  distasteful  to  the  majority  of  Druses, 
and  the  inhabitants  of  six  villages  abandoned  them,  and 
migrated  to  the  Jebel  Druse.  All  these  villages  occupied 
the  sites  of  ancient  Roman  towns,  and  were  constructed  of 
the  ancient  stones.  In  the  course  of  my  rambles  I  have 
visited  them  all.  Of  the  two  villages  which  remained,  one, 
Dalieh,  was  occupied  by  some  families  which  had  migrated 
direct  from  Aleppo;  the  other,  Esfia,  is  peopled  by  Druses 
from  the  Lebanon.  There  is  a  marked  difference  between 
the  two,  and  the  people  of  Dalieh  are  far  superior  to  those 
of  Esfia. 

I  went  over  there  the  other  day,  and  spent  the  day  and 
night  as  the  guest  of  the  sheik — or,  I  should  rather  say,  of 
the  sheiks,  for  there  are  two — one  is  the  temporal  and  the 
other  the  spiritual  head  of  the  village — and  I  divided  my 
attentions  and  my  meals  equally  between  them.  They  are 
very  reluctant  to  talk  about  their  religion,  always  turning 
the  subject  when  any  attempt  is  made  to  induce  them  to 
converse  about  it;  but  there  is  one  question  which  they  al¬ 
ways  ask,  and  that  is  whether  there  are  any  Druses  in  Eng¬ 
land.  As  it  is  an  accepted  fact  among  them  that  there  are, 
any  denial  of  it  is  considered  a  discreet  reticence,  and  rath¬ 
er  a  proof  than  otherwise  that  one  is  somewhat  of  a  Druse 
one’s  self.  They  also  believe  that  the  majority  of  China¬ 
men  are,  unconsciously  to  themselves,  Druses;  and  they  are 
firmly  convinced  that  the  wrorld  is  drawing  to  a  close,  and 
that  the  appearance  of  Hakim,  a  divine  incarnation,  which 
was  prophesied  to  take  place  nine  hundred  years  after  his 
last  manifestation  and  translation,  is  now  imminent,  as  the 
time  is  just  about  expiring. 

The  Druses  aro  a  sober,  fairly  honest,  and  industrious  peo- 


90 


HAIFA. 


pie,  and  have  their  own  notions  of  morality,  to  which  they 
rigidly  adhere.  They  have  only  one  wife,  but  they  have 
oreat  facilities  of  divorce.  An  amusing  illustration  of  this 
came  under  my  immediate  notice  while  I  was  the  sheik’s 
guest.  Ilis  son,  a  line  young  man,  had  been  my  guide 
among  some  neighbouring  ruins  the  day  before.  I  had  also 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  wife  of  the  latter,  a  remark¬ 
ably  pretty  woman,  with  a  baby.  Indeed,  I  was  much 
struck  with  the  beauty  of  the  type  of  all  the  Dalieh  women. 
Suddenly  a  tremendous  uproar  took  place  in  the  village. 
My  host  rushed  out  to  restore  order.  While  I  looked 
down  on  the  scene  from  an  upper  window,  I  saw  his  son, 
bareheaded,  brandishing  a  huge  stone  in  the  air,  and  vehe¬ 
mently  gesticulating,  apparently  in  reply  to  a  bevy  of  wom¬ 
en  who  were  screaming  at  him  at  the  top  of  their  voices. 
Indeed,  all  the  women  in  the  place  seemed  to  have  con¬ 
spired  to  drive  him  to  frenzy  by  their  abuse.  When  the 
sheik  appeared  in  the  midst  of  them  order  was  somewhat 
restored,  for,  to  my  surprise,  he  seemed  to  take  part  with 
the  women,  and  dealt  his  son  one  or  two  sound  blows. 
Then  there  was  some  palavering,  and  during  the  whole  time 
I  saw  the  wife  of  the  enraged  young  man  looking  calmly  on 
as  a  spectator.  She  had  put  her  child  in  its  cradle  and  was 
rocking  it.  Two  or  three  old  women  were  crying  and  still 
vociferating.  Presently  I  saw  a  man  come  and  lift  the 
cradle  with  the  baby,  and  the  mother  rose  and  followed  him. 
They  went  into  a  neighbouring  house,  and  were  followed  by 
the  sheik  and  as  many  as  could  crowd  in.  Then  ensued  a 
long  pause,  until  the  sheik  reappeared,  with  a  document 
which  he  had  been  writing,  in  his  hand,  and  the  village  popu¬ 
lation  gathered  around.  At  this  time  I  could  not  see  his  son 
anywhere,  but  the  wife  was  among  the  audience.  When  he 
had  finished  reading,  the  audience  broke  up  and  the  sheik 
returned  to  me.  When  I  asked  what  had  been  the  matter, 
he  replied,  “  Oh,  foolish  people  quarrelling.”  So  I  applied 
elsewhere  for  information,  and  was  told  that  for  some  time 
past  the  sheik’s  son  had  been  tired  of  his  wife  and  in  love 
with  another  woman,  and  had  been  seeking  a  cause  of  quar¬ 
rel.  He  had  apparently  found  it  in  some  dispute  he  had  just 
been  having  with  his  wife,  and  had  uttered  in  his  rage  the 


THE  DRUSES  OF  MOUNT  CARMEL. 


91 


formula  of  divorce,  by  which  he  dismissed  her  and  sent  her 
back  to  her  family.  Hence  the  feminine  outbreak  against 
him.  The  sheik  had  disapproved  his  son’s  conduct,  as  the 
wife  was  his  own  niece,  and,  therefore,  her  husband’s  first 
cousin,  and  he  considered  it  a  family  disgrace;  but,  after 
what  had  happened,  patching  up  the  matter  had  become  im¬ 
possible,  and  he  had  nothing  for  it  but,  according  to  Druse 
law,  to  pronounce  the  divorce.  I  must  say  that  the  entire  in¬ 
difference  manifested  by  the  wife,  when  she  followed  her 
baby’s  cradle  away  from  her  husband’s  house,  deprived  her 
of  the  sympathy  I  should  otherwise  have  felt. 

From  what  I  have  been  able  to  gather,  the  Druse  women, 
if  they  are  pretty,  are  a  heartless  lot.  Another  characteris¬ 
tic  incident  was  a  procession  of  Esfia  Druses  to  the  cave  of 
Elijah,  below  the  monastery,  in  fulfilment  of  a  vow,  when  a 
child  was  dedicated  to  a  religious  life,  and  a  goat  was  sacri¬ 
ficed  to  God,  as  in  the  times  of  old.  After  being  sacrificed, 
it  was  nevertheless  eaten,  which  seems  somewhat  to  deprive 
the  performance  of  its  merit,  as  the  share  of  the  Deity  was 
the  bones.  There  was  a  great  clanging  of  discordant  in¬ 
struments  and  loud  singing  as  they  came  back,  some  of  the 
men  caracoling  around  on  horseback,  and  others,  with  arms 
clasped,  dancing  in  a  measured  step,  followed  by  a  group 
of  dancing  women,  in  dark-blue  garments,  with  gaudy  bor¬ 
ders  and  fringes  and  sashes,  and  flowing  white  head-dresses 
bound  with  bright  -  coloured  scarfs.  They  formed  a  most 
picturesque  tableau,  chanting  their  way  to  their  home  on 
this  wild  mountain  liill-top. 

One  day  a  magnificent  figure  of  a  man,  armed  with  sword 
and  pistol,  suddenly  entered  my  tent.  I  asked  him  where 
he  had  come  from.  He  said  from  the  Jebel  Druse,  and, 
seeing  a  foreign  tent,  he  had  turned  in  to  see  who  I  was.  So 
we  exchanged  confidences.  He  was,  in  fact,  an  outlaw.  He 
had  been  fighting  against  the  government,  and  was  wander¬ 
ing  from  one  Druse  village  to  another,  not  daring  to  go  back 
to  his  own,  which  was  in  the  Lebanon.  lie  said  that  at  this 
moment  the  Druses  of  the  Jebel  Druse  were  in  full  revolt 
against  the  Turkish  government;  that  no  Druse  dare  show 
himself  in  Damascus,  and  no  Turk  dare  show  himself  in  the 
Jebel  Druse.  They  had  defied  the  Governor-General,  who 


92 


HAIFA. 


knew  that  it  would  be  useless  in  their  wild  mountains  to  at¬ 
tempt  to  conquer  them.  He  offered  to  take  me  to  the  J ebel 
Druse,  if  I  would  avoid  all  places  where  there  wTere  any 
Turks.  He  had  a  profound  contempt  for  his  coreligionists 
of  Dalieh  and  Esfia.  “I  am  ashamed  of  such  Druses,”  he 
said.  “  Why,  I  saw  a  Moslem  insult  one,  the  other  day,  and, 
instead  of  killing  him,  he  walked  away.  Why  don’t  they 
leave  a  place  where  they  dare  not  punish  insult,  and  come 
to  the  mountain?”  I  have  rarely  seen  a  finer  specimen  of 
humanity  than  this  man  was,  and,  with  all  the  defiant  reck¬ 
lessness  and  daring  of  his  expression,  there  was  the  charm  of 
entire  frankness  and  good-nature  combined  with  it. 

Besides  the  two  villages  on  Carmel,  there  are  fourteen 
Druse  villages,  nearly  all  within  sight  of  it,  on  the  southern 
slopes  of  the  mountains  of  Galilee.  It  is  not  improbable 
that,  unable  to  support  the  military  conscription  and  taxa¬ 
tion  which  presses  upon  them,  the  inhabitants  may,  before 
long,  abandon  their  present  homes,  and  go  to  swell  the  num¬ 
bers  of  their  brethren  in  the  Jebel  Druse.  The  whole  pop¬ 
ulation  of  the  Druse  nation  is  about  120,000;  they  can  put 
into  the  field  25,000  men  of  the  best  fighting  material  in 
Turkey;  they  are  slowly  migrating  to  the  Jebel  Druse, 
where  about  two  thirds  of  the  nation  have  already  asserted 
their  semi-independence. 


EXPLORATION  OX  CARMEL. 


Haifa,  Sept.  24. — During  the  two  months  that  I  have  been 
camped  on  the  highest  summit  of  Mount  Carmel,  I  have 
visited  no  fewer  than  twenty  ruins  of  ancient  towns  and 
villages.  Of  these  I  have  discovered  six  which  were  hereto¬ 
fore  unknown,  the  others  having  been  found  ten  years  ago 
by  the  officers  of  the  Royal  Engineers  sent  out  to  survey 
Palestine  by  the  Society  for  Palestine  Exploration. 

Prior  to  that  time,  this  historic  locality  was  a  terra  in¬ 
cognita.  The  tourists  who  visited  the  mountain,  like  the  pil¬ 
grims  who  journeyed  thither  for  devotional  reasons,  satisfied 
themselves  with  a  short  stay  at  the  convent,  and  even  then 
did  not  understand  that  they  were  only  on  one  mountain 
spur  of  a  highland  region  thirty-five  miles  in  circumference, 
where  almost  every  hilltop  was  crowned  with  a  ruin,  and 
every  gorge  might  open  up  new  and  unexpected  beauties  of 
scenery. 

It  is  only  after  so  exhaustive  an  examination  as  I  have  just 
accomplished  that  any  idea  can  be  formed  of  the  extent  of 
the  population  by  which  Carmel  was  once  inhabited,  of  the 
high  state  of  civilization  which  must  have  prevailed  here, 
and  of  the  extent  to  which  its  lovely  hills  and  valleys  were 
cultivated.  These  ruins  bear  a  great  resemblance  to  each 
other;  and  although  they  none  of  them  cover  a  very  great 
extent  of  ground,  they  were  built  of  most  solid  materials, 
and,  to  judge  by  some  of  the  architectural  remains,  and  the 
elaborate  carvings  and  devices,  they  must  have  contained 
some  handsome  buildings. 

The  houses  were  built  of  blocks  of  drafted  stone,  usually 
four  feet  long  by  two  and  a  half  high,  and  two  thick.  The 
door- jambs  and  lintels,  which  in  some  instances  are  still  in 
situ,  were  often  seven  or  eight  feet  long  by  two  feet  six 
by  two  feet.  In  these  were  holes  or  sockets,  in  which  the 


94 


HAIFA. 


pivots  worked.  Some  of  the  lintels  over  the  doors  were  or¬ 
namented  with  devices  ;  these  were  usually  hexagons  and 
circles,  in  the  centre  of  which  were  ovals  or  other  orna¬ 
mental  scrolls.  Sometimes  there  was  a  bird  or  an  animal, 
such  as  an  eagle  or  a  leopard,  or  seven-branched  candlesticks, 
or  raised  bosses  or  crosses;  here  and  there  was  a  cornice  with 
a  florid  carving,  evidently  of  the  Roman  period,  with  frag¬ 
ments  of  columns  or  capitals.  But  some  of  these  ruins  have 
been  inhabited  by  later  inhabitants,  who  used  the  old  stones 
for  their  modern  constructions,  and  too  often  chipped  off  the 
carving.  Indeed,  they  are  the  ready-made  quarries  of  the 
country  people  of  the  present  day,  wffio  come  and  carry  off 
the  stones  to  build  their  houses. 

A  notable  and  melancholy  instance  of  this  has  occurred  in 
the  case  of  a  place  called  Khurbet  Semmaka.  This  was  the 
most  interesting  ruin  in  Carmel,  and  was  discovered  ten 
years  ago  by  the  officers  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Sur¬ 
vey.  Here  they  found  the  portal  of  what  once  had  been  an 
ancient  Jewish  synagogue  still  standing,  its  door-jambs  and 
lintels  elaborately  carved,  part  of  the  walls  and  fragments  of 
the  columns  which  formed  an  enclosing  colonnade  were  in 
position,  and  formed  the  subject  of  much  speculation,  as  it 
was  the  only  specimen  of  Jewish  architecture  in  this  part  of 
the  country,  and  presented  some  features  which  were  dif¬ 
ferent  from  anything  hitherto  discovered;  and  it  was  there¬ 
fore  suggested  that  the  building  must  have  been  built  at  a 
different  period  from  any  of  those  the  remains  of  which  still 
exist.  Judge  of  my  disappointment  on  visiting  this  spot  to 
find  that,  with  the  exception  of  three  feet  of  one  door-jamb, 
all  had  disappeared;  there  was  scarcely  a  stone  left.  The 
inhabitants  of  a  Moslem  village  about  two  miles  distant  had 
within  the  last  decade  made  a  clean  sweep  of  all  these  most 
interesting  remains.  Fortunately  they  still  exist  in  the 
Palestine  Society’s  Memoirs  in  the  shape  of  most  elaborate 
drawings  and  measurements,  which  were  made  by  the  Sur¬ 
vey  and  have  since  been  published. 

Apart  from  the  actual  stones  themselves  and  the  carvings 
which  are  to  be  found  upon  them,  the  objects  of  interest 
which  mainly  characterize  all  these  Carnlel  ruins  are  ancient 
olive-mills  and  wine-presses,  often  in  a  very  perfect  state  of 


EXPLORATION  ON  CARMEL. 


95 


preservation,  tombs  and  cisterns.  First,  in  regard  to  the 
olive-mills.  I  found  more  than  a  dozen  of  these.  On  two 
occasions  they  were  hewn  out  of  the  living  rock.  The  lower 
stone,  which  was  circular,  had  usually  a  diameter  of  eight 
feet,  with  a  raised  rim  outside  nine  or  ten  inches  high, 
and  a  raised  socket  in  the  centre,  in  which  Avas  a  hole  a  foot 
square,  where  the  upright  was  fitted  to  hold  the  lateral  beam 
which  worked  the  upper  stone.  This  was  usually  five  feet 
in  diameter  and  eighteen  inches  thick,  and  had  a  hole  pierced 
through  the  centre.  Through  this  the  long  beam  was  passed, 
to  which,  as  it  extended  far  beyond  the  circumference  of  the 
lower  stone,  the  horse  was  attached  which  worked  the  mill, 
the  upper  stone  travelling  on  its  broad  edge  around  the  lower 
stone,  over  the  olives.  From  the  lower  stone  a  gutter  was 
carved  into  the  vat,  also  hewn  out  of  the  living  rock,  into 
which  trickled  the  oil.  I  often  found  near  these  mills  huge 
limestone  rollers  about  three  feet  in  diameter  and  seven  feet 
long.  On  the  sides  of  these  were  four  vertical  lines  of  sunk 
grooves,  four  or  five  grooves  in  each  line.  Taking  2.7  as 
the  specific  gravity  of  the  stone,  they  must  have  weighed 
about  two  tons  each.  What  their  functions  were,  or  whether 
they  had  anything  to  do  with  the  olive-crushing  process,  I  am 
at  a  loss  to  conjecture.  The  wine-presses  were  nothing  more 
than  huge  vats,  also  hewn  out  of  the  living  rock,  sometimes 
above  ground,  in  the  shape  of  sarcophagi,  sometimes  pits 
eight  or  nine  feet  square  and  the  same  in  depth. 

The  limestone  hillsides  in  the  neighbourhood  of  these  ruins 
were  almost  invariably  honeycombed  with  cave  tombs,  whose 
doorways  were  often  rudely  ornamented  with  devices,  and 
in  one  instance  I  found  an  inscription  in  Greek  characters  so 
much  defaced  that  I  could  not  decipher  it.  They  usually 
consisted  of  only  one  chamber,  eight  or  ten  feet  square,  but 
were  sometimes  larger,  and  contained  either  kokim  or  loculi 
under  arcosolia,  sometimes  both.  The  kokim  are  tunnel¬ 
shaped  excavations,  usually  seven  feet  long,  two  feet  six 
wide,  and  the  same  in  height  —  in  other  words,  just  large 
enough  to  contain  a  corpse.  The  loculus  is  an  oblong  tomb, 
with  sides  about  two  feet  high,  also  large  enough  convenient¬ 
ly  to  contain  a  body.  It  is  cut  out  of  the  living  rock,  as  well 
as  the  arch  which  overspans  it.  Sometimes  there  is  a  large, 


96 


HAIFA. 


arched  recess  opening  out  of  the  central  chamber,  containing 
several  loculi.  On  more  than  one  occasion  I  found  a  circu¬ 
lar  stone  like  a  millstone  in  a  groove  in  the  doorway,  which 
only  required  to  be  rolled  a  couple  of  feet  to  close  the  tomb 
completely,  but  the  tombs  are  generally  closed  by  an  oblong 
stone  slab,  not  unfrequently  ornamented  with  devices.  I 
also  found  several  sarcophagi. 

The  cisterns  are  of  two  kinds,  bell-mouthed  and  of  demi¬ 
john  shape,  or  open  rock-hewn  reservoirs  or  tanks.  At  one 
ruin  I  found  an  extensive  system  of  these  latter.  There  were 
no  fewer  than  six,  of  which  the  largest  was  forty  feet  square, 
all  close  together,  divided  only  by  narrow  ledges  of  the  solid 
rock  out  of  which  they  had  been  hewn.  They  were  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  feet  to  the  soil  at  the  bottom,  now  over¬ 
grown  with  shrubs,  so  that  in  reality  they  are  probably  much 
deeper.  In  some  cases  stone  steps  lead  to  the  bottom,  and 
on  the  sides  were  deep  niches  from  which  evidently  sprang 
arches  to  form  the  roof,  for  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the 
most  of  them  were  originally  covered.  From  the  great  num¬ 
ber  and  extent  of  these  cisterns  it  is  manifest  that  the  in¬ 
habitants  were,  in  some  instances,  entirely  dependent  upon 
them  for  their  water  supply. 

At  the  southeastern  extremity  of  the  mountain  is  the  spot 
known  as  “the  place  of  burning,”  or  sacrifice,  because  tra¬ 
dition  assigns  it  as  the  locality  where  Elijah  had  his  contro¬ 
versy  with  the  prophets  of  Baal,  and  in  commemoration 
thereof  the  Carmelite  monks  are  at  this  moment  building  a 
church  there,  and  using,  by  the  way,  some  of  the  carved 
stones  of  a  neighbouring  ruin,  regardless  of  all  antiquarian 
considerations.  I  feel,  therefore,  a  malignant  satisfaction  in 
the  conviction  at  which  I  have  arrived  that  they  are  build¬ 
ing  their  church  on  a  spot  which  is  indisputably  not  the 
place  ori  which  the  altar  of  Elijah  was  erected,  if  we  are  to 
believe  the  Biblical  record,  for  it  is  in  full  view  of  the  Medi¬ 
terranean,  and  it  would  have  been  quite  unnecessary  for 
Elijah  to  tell  his  servant  to  “go  up  and  look  toward  the 
sea,”  for  there  is  no  higher  point  to  go  up  to,  and  he  could 
see  the  sea  himself.  But  about  a  mile  from  this  spot  there 
stands,  curiously  enough,  a  pile  of  stones  in  a  locality  which 
would  exactly  fulfil  the  required  conditions.  I  came  upon 


EXPLORATION  ON  CARMEL. 


97 


it  unexpectedly,  almost  concealed  in  a  thicket  of  underwood. 
The  stones  are  placed  one  upon  the  other  without  cement, 
and  average  eighteen  inches  square  and  eight  or  nine  thick, 
forming  a  rude  altar  about  twelve  feet  long  and  four  high. 
The  breadth  varies,  as  they  have  been  broken  away,  but 
there  is  a  large  artificial  slab,  six  feet  square,  lying  at  the 
base.  Though  I  do  not  for  a  moment  mean  to  imply  that 
this  was  the  original  altar,  the  unusual  shape  and  position  of 
this  pile  suggests  that  it  may  have  been  the  result  of  some 
sacred  tradition  connected  with  the  Biblical  event,  or  it  may 
be  the  remains  of  an  ancient  vineyard  watch-tower.  From 
it  the  ground  swells  back  and  upward  in  every  direction,  so 
that  a  vast  host  might  have  been  assembled  around  and 
witnessed  whatever  wTas  going  forward,  which  would 
have  been  impossible  at  the  traditional  locality.  A  ten 
minutes’  walk  would  have  taken  Elijah’s  servant  to  a  neigh¬ 
bouring  summit  which  commanded  a  full  view  of  the  sea, 
and  the  twelve  barrels  of  water  required  to  drench  the  altar 
could  have  been  obtained  from  some  rock-hewm  tanks  in  the 
immediate  vicinity,  while  the  path  that  passes  the  pile  leads 
straight  down  to  the  hill  on  the  bank  of  the  Kishon,  where 
tradition  has  it  that  the  priests  were  massacred.  Moreover, 
it  was  in  the  centre  of  the  most  populous  part  of  the  mountain. 
Within  a  radius  of  two  miles  and  a  half  from  this  pile  of 
stones  there  are  no  fewer  than  twelve  ruins  of  ancient  towns 
and  villages  on  the  various  hill -tops  and  mountain -spurs 
which  surround  it. 

Mo  fact  could  give  a  better  idea  than  this  of  the  populous 
character  of  Carmel  in  the  days  of  the  prophet.  Mot  very 
far  from  this  I  discovered,  half-way  down  the  steep  flank  of 
the  mountain,  a  fortress  of  a  most  ancient  race,  the  stones 
which  were  piled  one  above  another  three  high  to  form  the 
rampart  being  immense  natural  unhewn  boulders  weighing 
from  two  to  three  tons  each.  I  am  not  aware  of  anything 
of  the  kind  having  yet  been  found  in  Palestine,  and  as  carry¬ 
ing  one  back  to  a  period  probably  anterior  to  Jewish  occu¬ 
pation,  I  regard  it  as  the  most  interesting  discovery  I  have 
made  on  Carmel. 

7 


A  PLACE  FAMOUS  IN  HISTORY. 


St.  Jean  d’Acre,  Oct.  14. — Of  all  the  towns  on  the  Syrian 
coast,  from  Antioch  to  Gaza,  none  has  had  a  more  eventful 
history  than  Acre,  or  one  which  more  directly  affected  the 
fortunes  of  the  rest  of  the  country  at  large.  Napoleon  I. 
called  it  the  key  of  Palestine,  and  it  is  doubtless  owing  to 
its  important  strategical  position  that  it  has  undergone  so 
many  vicissitudes,  and  been  the  scene  of  so  many  sanguinary 
battles.  There  is,  indeed,  probably  no  similar  area  on  the 
face  of  the  globe  on  which  so  much  blood  has  been  shed. 

I  was  at  some  trouble  the  other  day  to  add  up  the  list  of 
sieges  it  has  undergone,  and  the  total  was  fifteen,  not  count¬ 
ing  doubtful  ones  in  the  earliest  history  of  the  country, 
when  it  wTas  invaded  and  conquered  by  the  ancient  Egyp¬ 
tians;  but  beginning  with  the  siege  of  Acre  by  Shalmaneser, 
721  b.  c.,  when  the  fortress  belonged  to  the  Tyrians,  and 
ending  with  its  bombardment,  in  a.  d.  1840,  by  the  English 
Admiral  Sir  Charles  Napier,  the  list  is  one  which  suggests 
a  record  of  blood  unparalleled  in  history.  Its  worst  time 
was  undoubtedly  during  the  two  hundred  years  when  it  was 
taken  and  retaken  several  times  by  Crusaders  and  Saracens 
successively.  On  one  of  these  occasions  when,  after  a  two 
years’  siege,  the  town  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Saracens, 
sixty  thousand  Christians  are  said  to  have  fallen  by  the 
sword.  The  place  is  still  shown,  at  the  northeast  salient  of 
the  outer  wall,  where  stood  the  English  tower,  which  was 
guarded  by  the  troops  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion. 

The  town  now  contains  only  about  nine  thousand  inhabi¬ 
tants,  cooped  up  by  the  fortifications  in  the  very  limited 
area  of  about  fifty  acres;  and  it  is  more  picturesque  than 
agreeable  to  live  in.  There  is  no  more  characteristic  bazaar 
in  the  East  than  that  of  Acre,  with  its  motley  crowd  of 
wild  Bedouins  from  the  desert,  Persian  devotees  gathering 


A  PLACE  FAMOUS  IN  HISTORY. 


99 


around  a  Persian  holy  man  who  has  taken  up  his  residence 
here,  Turkish  soldiers  who  form  its  garrison,  Druses,  with 
their  white  turbans  and  striped  abeihs,  or  overcoats,  Meta- 
walis,  who  are  w7ild  and  gipsy-looking  Moslem  schismatics, 
Syrian  Christians,  and  Moslem  peasantry;  add  to  these  veiled 
women,  long  strings  of  camels,  with  an  occasional  foreigner, 
or  sailor  from  a  merchant-ship  in  the  harbour,  and  you  get 
a  population  as  varied  as  any  town  in  the  country  can  show. 
Acre,  therefore,  is  a  most  interesting  place  to  spend  a  day 
in,  apart  from  any  antiquarian  attraction  it  may  possess,  or 
monuments  of  more  modern  architecture  which  are  worthy 
of  attention. 

There  are  few  liner  mosques  in  Syria  than  that  of  Jezzar 
Pacha,  which  stands  within  a  large  rectangular  area,  where 
there  are  vaulted  galleries,  supported  by  ancient  columns 
ornamented  by  capitals  brought  from  the  ruins  of  Tyre  and 
Caesarea.  Along  these  galleries  have  been  built  cells,  des¬ 
tined  for  the  people  employed  at  the  mosque,  or  the  pil¬ 
grims  who  came  to  visit  it.  They  surround  a  magnificent 
court,  under  which  are  cisterns,  and  upon  which  are  palms, 
cypress,  and  other  trees.  Among  them  are  white  marble 
tombs,  notably  those  of  Jezzar  and  Suleiman  Pacha.  The 
town  contains  three  other  mosques,  the  columns  in  "which 
and  the  pavement  have  certainly  belonged  to  more  ancient 
buildings.  There  are  four  Christian  churches  in  the  city, 
wThich  belong  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  the  Schismatic  Greeks, 
the  Maronites,  and  the  United  Greeks  respectively.  Under 
the  house  of  the  Sisters  of  Nazareth  and  the  neighbouring 
houses  extend  vast  vaulted  cellars  which  are  now  divided 
by  walls  of  separation,  and  belong  to  different  proprietors; 
they  are  doubtless  of  crusading  origin.  Deep  cisterns  also 
date  from  that  period.  Of  the  same  date  also  are  certain 
remains  of  wralls  and  vaults  near  the  convent,  which  are  the 
ruins  of  a  church  almost  completely  destroyed.  The  most 
remarkable  khan  is  near  the  port,  called  the  Khan  el  Aurid 
on  account  of  its  columns,  the  galleries  surrounding  it  being 
built  on  pillars  of  gray  or  red  granite,  covered  by  capitals 
of  different  orders,  brought  from  more  ancient  monuments. 

The  citadel,  as  may  be  imagined,  has  often  been  destroyed 
and  rebuilt.  On  one  side  is  the  military  hospital,  the  lower 


100 


HAIFA . 


part  of  which  belongs  entirely  to  crusaders’  work,  and  con¬ 
sists  of  large  subterranean  magazines.  In  the  middle  is  a 
great  court,  shaded  by  fig,  palm,  and  other  trees,  under 
which  are  vaulted  galleries  and  cisterns.  Under  the  ram¬ 
parts  also  extend  immense  ogival  vaults,  many  of  which  be¬ 
long  to  the  time  of  the  crusades.  These  have  furnished 
magazines  for  later  defenders  of  the  fortress,  and,  during  the 
bombardment  by  the  English  in  1840,  the  principal  one  ex¬ 
ploded,  with  a  loss  to  the  defenders  of  1600  men,  30  camels, 
50  asses,  besides  horses,  cows,  and  a  great  store  of  arms. 
Some  of  the  guns  lying  about  the  ramparts  are  of  old  French 
manufacture,  with  the  dates  1785,  ’86,  ’87.  They  are  those 
which  were  sent  by  sea,  for  the  use  of  Napoleon,  but  were 
captured  by  Sir  Sydney  Smith,  and  brought  here  to  serve 
for  the  defence  of  the  city.  About  half  a  mile  from  the 
city  walls  is  an  artificial  hill  or  tumulus,  called  Napoleon’s 
Hill,  from  the  fact  that  he  used  it  as  his  headquarters  during 
one  of  the  sieges  of  Acre.  It  was  occupied  for  the  same  pur¬ 
pose  six  hundred  years  before  by  Richard  Cosur  de  Lion. 

In  ancient  times  Acre  was  the  most  populous  and  flourish¬ 
ing  port  on  the  sea-coast  after  the  decline  of  Tyre  and  Sidon, 
and  contained  an  immense  population;  the  town  must  have 
extended  over  the  plain  to  the  east  of  the  city,  which  is  still 
rich  in  ancient  debris,  fragments  of  pottery,  and  marble 
carvings.  A  great  part  of  the  modern  fortification  has  been 
built  from  the  ruins  of  Athlit,  which  I  have  described  in  a 
former  letter,  and  which,  before  it  was  thus  despoiled  at  the 
beginning  of  this  century,  must  have  been  an  ancient  cru¬ 
sading  fortress  in  almost  perfect  condition.  When  one 
thinks  how  lately  it  has  been  destroyed,  one  is  all  the  more 
inclined  to  regret  the  disappearance  of  a  monument  which 
would  have  been  the  most  interesting  relic  of  its  kind  in  ex¬ 
istence.  Acre  possesses  little  Biblical  interest.  It  is  only 
mentioned  once  in  the  Old  Testament,  where  it  is  alluded  to 
as  being  a  town  from  which  the  tribe  of  Asher,  in  whose 
territory  it  was  situated,  did  not  succeed  in  driving  the  Ca- 
naanites,  but  seemed  to  have  lived  with  them  in  it  upon 
friendly  terms;  and  once  in  the  New  Testament,  where,  un¬ 
der  the  name  of  Ptolemais,  it  was  visited  by  Paul  on  his 
way  from  Greece  to  Jerusalem. 


A  PLACE  FAMOUS  IN  HISTORY. 


101 


There  are  many  old  people  now  in  Acre  who  tell  thrilling 
stories  of  the  episodes  which  occurred  here  during  the  years 
when  it  was  occupied  by  the  Egyptians,  between  1830  and 
1840,  and  when  it  became  necessary  not  merely  to  concil¬ 
iate  the  conquerors,  but  to  play  a  double  game  of  keeping 
on  good  terms  with  the  Turks,  to  whom  it  was  ultimately, 
and,  as  it  now  turns  out,  foolishly,  restored  by  the  British; 
but  none  so  thrilling  as  those  which  they  have  heard  from 
their  fathers,  of  the  incidents  which  marked  the  reigns  of 
Jezzar  and  Abdullah  Pacha,  especially  the  former.  The  fol¬ 
lowing  story  was  told  me  by  the  son  of  the  man  who  was 
the  confidential  secretary  of  this  fiend  in  human  shape,  who 
gloried  in  the  name  of  “The  Butcher.”  In  youth  he  sold 
himself  to  a  slave-merchant  in  Constantinople,  and,  being 
purchased  by  Ali  Bey  of  Egypt,  he  rose  from  the  humble 
station  of  a  mameluke  to  be  Governor  of  Cairo.  In  1773 
he  was  placed  by  the  Emir  of  the  Druses  in  command  at 
Bey  rout.  There  his  first  act  was  to  seize  50,000  piastres, 
the  property  of  the  emir,  and  the  second  to  declare  that  he 
acknowledged  no  superior  but  the  sultan.  The  emir,  by  the 
aid  of  a  Russian  fleet,  drove  Jezzar  from  Beyrout,  but  he  was 
soon  after  made  Pacha  of  Acre  and  Sidon.  Under  his  vig¬ 
orous  rule  the  pachalik  extended  from  Baalbec  on  the  north 
to  Jerusalem  on  the  south.  My  informant  told  me  that  he 
was  not  originally  a  cruel  man,  but  that  one  day  he  was 
playing  with  a  little  daughter  who  pulled  his  beard.  “  This 
is  very  wrong,”  he  said;  “how  did  you  learn  to  play  with 
men’s  beards  ?”  “  Oh,”  she  replied,  “  I  always  play  with  the 

beards  of  the  mamelukes  wdien  they  visit  the  ladies  of  the 
harem  in  your  absence.”  This  excited  a  fit  of  frenzied  jeal¬ 
ousy.  Taking  an  escort,  he  announced  that  he  was  going 
on  an  official  visit  to  a  distant  part  of  his  pachalik.  When 
he  was  a  stage  out  of  Acre,  he  told  his  escort  to  remain 
where  they  were,  disguised  himself,  and  returned  rapidly 
and  secretly  to  his  harem.  Here  he  found  all  his  favourite 
wrives  disporting  themselves  with  his  mamelukes  or  military 
body-guard.  Instantly  he  drew  his  cimeter  and  fell,  not 
upon  the  men,  but  upon  the  women.  Fifteen  of  these  he  is 
said  to  have  killed  with  his  own  hand,  and  then,  growing 
tired  of  the  effort,  he  called  in  some  soldiers  to  complete  the 


102 


HAIFA . 


massacre,  not  leaving  one  alive.  My  informant  did  not  re¬ 
member  the  total  number  slain.  The  mamelukes  rushed  to 
the  great  magazines,  and  swore  they  would  blow  themselves 
up  and  the  whole  town  if  a  hair  of  their  heads  was  touched. 
They  were  allowed,  therefore,  to  saddle  their  horses  and 
ride  off  in  peace;  but  from  that  day  the  whole  character  of 
Jezzar  Pacha  w~as  changed,  and  he  made  it  a  rule  never  to 
allow  a  week  to  pass  without  executions.  His  Jew  banker 
was  a  handsome  man.  One  day  Jezzar  complimented  him 
on  his  looks,  and  then,  calling  a  servant,  ordered  him  to  put 
out  one  of  the  Jew’s  eyes.  Some  time  after  Jezzar  ob¬ 
served  that  the  banker  had  arranged  his  turban  so  as  almost 
to  hide  the  lost  eye,  and  he  then,  without  a  moment’s  hesi¬ 
tation,  had  his  nose  cut  off.  The  poor  Jew  finally  lost  his 
head.  The  family  of  this  man  are  still  among  the  chief 
bankers  of  Damascus. 

This  butcher  also  employed  his  own  leisure  moments  in 
unexpectedly  drawing  his  sword  and  cutting  off  the  ears 
and  noses  of  his  favourites  and  the  people  about  him,  and 
sometimes  their  heads,  with  his  own  hand.  This  was  the 
man  whom  Napoleon  besieged  in  Acre,  and  with  whom 
British  troops  were  unfortunately  compelled  to  ally  them¬ 
selves  to  prevent  the  fortress  from  falling  into  French  hands. 
My  informant  told  me  that  during  the  latter  years  of  Jezzar 
Pacha’s  life  his  character  again  changed  for  the  better,  and 
he  gradually  gave  up  his  cruel  practices.  In  fact,  he  de¬ 
scribed  his  cruelty  as  a  monomania  produced  by  a  fit  of 
jealousy,  which  it  took  him  some  years  to  get  over. 


THE  BABS  AND  THEIR  PROPHET. 

Haifa,  Nov.  7. — The  Nahr  N’aman,  called  by  the  ancients 
the  river  Belus,  rises  in  a  large  marsh  at  the  base  of  a 
mound  in  the  plain  of  Acre  called  the  Tell  Kurdany,  and, 
after  a  short  course  of  four  miles,  fed  by  the  swampy  ground 
through  which  it  passes,  it  attains  considerable  dimensions. 
Before  falling  into  the  sea  it  winds  through  an  extensive 
date -grove,  and  then,  twisting  its  way  between  banks  of 
fine  sand,  falls  into  the  ocean  scarcely  two  miles  from  the 
walls  of  Acre.  Pliny  tells  us  that  glass  was  first  made  by 
the  ancients  from  the  sands  of  this  river,  and  the  numerous 
specimens  of  old  glass  which  I  found  in  grubbing  bear  tes¬ 
timony  to  the  extensive  usage  of  this  material  in  the  neigh¬ 
bourhood.  The  beach  at  its  mouth  was  also  celebrated  as 
a  locality  where  the  shells  which  yielded  the  Tyrian  purple 
were  to  be  found  in  great  abundance,  and  I  have  succeeded 
in  extracting  the  dye  from  some  of  those  I  have  collected 
here.  It  was  also  renowned  for  a  colossal  statue  of  Mem- 
non,  which,  according  to  Pliny,  was  upon  its  banks,  but  the 
site  of  this  has  not  been  accurately  identified.  The  only 
point  of  attraction  now  upon  its  waters  is  a  garden  belong¬ 
ing  to  an  eminent  Persian,  whose  residence  at  Acre  is  in¬ 
vested  with  such  peculiar  interest  that  I  made  an  expedition 
to  his  pleasure-ground  on  the  chance  of  discovering  some¬ 
thing  more  in  regard  to  him  than  it  was  possible  to  do  at 
Haifa. 

Turning  sharply  to  the  right  before  reaching  Acre,  and 
passing  beneath  the  mound  upon  which  Napoleon  planted 
his  batteries  in  1799,  we  enter  a  grove  of  date-trees  by  a 
road  bordered  with  high  cactus  hedges,  and  finally  reach  a 
causeway  which  traverses  a  small  lake  formed  by  the  waters 
of  the  Belus,  and  which,  crossing  one  arm  of  the  river,  lands 
us  upon  an  island  which  it  encircles.  This  island,  which  is 


104 


HAIFA. 


about  two  hundred  yards  long  by  scarcely  a  hundred  wide, 
is  all  laid  out  in  flower-beds  and  planted  with  ornamental 
shrubs  and  with  fruit-trees.  Coming  upon  it  suddenly  it  is 
like  a  scene  in  fairy  land.  In  the  centre  is  a  plashing  foun¬ 
tain  from  which  the  water  is  conveyed  to  all  parts  of  the 
garden.  The  flower-beds  are  all  bordered  with  neat  edges 
of  stone-work,  and  are  sunk  below  the  irrigating  channels. 
Over  a  marble  bed  the  waters  from  the  fountain  come  rip- 
pling  down  in  a  broad  stream  to  a  bower  of  bliss,  where  two 
immense  and  venerable  mulberry-trees  cast  an  impenetrable 
shade  over  a  platform  with  seats  along  the  entire  length 
of  one  side,  protected  by  a  balustrade  projecting  over  the 
waters  of  the  Belus,  which  here  runs  in  a  clear  stream,  four¬ 
teen  or  fifteen  feet  wide  and  two  or  three  deep,  over  a  peb¬ 
bly  bottom,  wThere  fish  of  considerable  size,  and  evidently 
preserved,  are  darting  fearlessly  about,  or  coming  up  to  the 
steps  to  be  fed.  The  stream  is  fringed  with  wmeping  wil¬ 
lows,  and  the  spot,  with  its  wTealtli  of  water,  its  thick  shade, 
and  air  fragrant  with  jasmine  and  orange  blossoms,  forms 
an  ideal  retreat  from  the  heats  of  summer.  The  sights  and 
sounds  are  all  suggestive  of  langour  and  dolce  far  niente ,  of 
that  peculiar  condition  known  to  Orientals  as  kief ’  when  the 
senses  are  lulled  by  the  sounds  of  murmuring  water,  the 
odours  of  fragrant  plants,  the  flickering  shadows  of  foliage, 
or  the  gorgeous  tints  of  flowers  and  the  fumes  of  the  nar- 
ghileh. 

The  gardener,  a  sedate  Persian  in  a  tall  cap,  who  kept 
the  place  in  scrupulous  order,  gave  us  a  dignified  welcome. 
His  master,  he  said,  would  not  come  till  the  afternoon,  and 
if  we  disappeared  before  his  arrival  wTe  were  welcome  to 
spread  our  luncheon  on  his  table  under  the  mulberry-trees, 
and  sit  round  it  on  his  chairs;  nay,  further,  he  even  extend¬ 
ed  his  hospitality  to  providing  us  wTith  hot  water. 

Thus  it  was  that  we  took  possession  of  Abbas  Effendi’s 
garden  before  I  had  the  honour  of  making  that  gentleman’s 
acquaintance,  an  act  of  no  little  audacity,  when  I  inform 
you  that  he  claims  to  be  the  eldest  son  of  the  last  incarna¬ 
tion  of  the  Deity.  As  his  father  is  alive  and  resident  at 
Acre — if  one  may  venture  to  talk  of  such  a  being  as  resi¬ 
dent  anywhere  —  my  anxiety  to  see  the  son  was  only  ex- 


THE  BABS  AND  THEIR  PROPHET 


103 

ceeded  by  my  curiosity  to  investigate  the  father.  But  this, 
as  I  shall  presently  explain,  seems  a  hope  that  is  not  likely 
to  be  realized.  Meantime  I  shall  proceed  to  give  you,  so 
far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  an  account  of  who  Abbas 
Effendi’s  father  is,  and  all  that  I  know  about  him,  premising 
always  that  I  only  do  so  subject  to  any  modification  which 
further  investigation  may  suggest. 

It  is  now  forty-eight  years  since  a  young  man  of  three- 
and-twenty  appeared  at  the  shrine  of  Hussein,  the  grandson 
of  the  Prophet,  who  was  made  a  martyr  at  Kerbela.  lie 
was  said  to  have  been  born  at  Shiraz,  the  son  of  a  merchant 
there,  and  his  name  was  Ali  Mohammed.  It  is  supposed 
that  he  derived  his  religious  opinions  from  a  certain  Indian 
Mussulman,  called  Achsai,  who  instituted  a  system  of  re¬ 
form,  and  made  many  disciples.  Whether  this  is  so  or  not, 
the  young  Persian  soon  acquired  a  pre-eminent  reputation 
for  sanctity,  and  the  boldness  and  enthusiasm  of  his  preach¬ 
ing  and  the  revolutionary  sentiments  he  uttered  attracted 
many  to  his  teaching.  So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  judge, 
he  preached  a  pure  morality  of  the  loftiest  character,  de¬ 
nouncing  the  abuses  of  existing  Islam  as  Christ  did  the 
Judaism  of  his  day,  and  fearlessly  incurring  the  hostility  of 
Persian  Phariseeism.  A  member  himself  of  the  Shiite  sect 
of  Moslems,  he  sought  to  reform  it,  as  being  the  state  re¬ 
ligion  of  Persia,  and  finally  went  so  far  as  to  proclaim  him¬ 
self  at  Kufa  the  bcib,  or  door,  through  which  alone  man 
could  approach  God.  At  the  same  time  he  announced  that 
he  was  the  Malidi,  or  last  Imaum,  who  was  descended  from 
Ali,  the  son-in-law  of  the  Prophet,  and  whom  the  Shiites  be¬ 
lieve  to  have  been  an  incarnation  of  the  Deity.  Mahdi  is 
supposed  by  all  Persian  Moslems  not  to  have  died,  but  to 
be  awaiting  in  concealment  the  coming  of  the  last  day. 

As  may  be  imagined,  the  sudden  appearance  after  so 
many  centuries  of  a  reformer  who  claimed  to  be  none  other 
than  the  long-expected  divine  manifestation,  created  no 
little  consternation  throughout  Persia,  more  especially  as, 
according  to  tradition,  the  time  had  arrived  when  such  a 
manifestation  was  to  be  looked  for,  and  men’s  minds  were 
prepared  for  the  event.  The  Persian  enthusiast,  as  soon 
as  his  preaching  became  popular  and  his  pretensions  vast, 


106 


HAIFA. 


roused  the  most  violent  hostility,  and  he  was  executed  at 
Tabriz  in  1849,  after  a  brief  career  of  fourteen  years,  at  the 
early  age  of  thirty-seven.  The  tragic  circumstances  at¬ 
tending  his  death  enhanced  his  glory,  for  he  was  repeatedly 
offered  his  life  if  he  would  consent  to  abate  his  claims,  or 
even  leave  the  country.  He  preferred,  however,  a  martyr’s 
crown,  and  was  executed  in  the  presence  of  a  vast  multi¬ 
tude,  leaving  behind  him  a  numerous  and  fanatic  sect,  who 
have  since  then  been  known  as  the  Babs,  and  whose  belief 
in  the  founder  subsequent  persecutions  on  the  part  of  the 
government  have  only  served  to  confirm. 

The  Bab  before  his  execution  gave  it  to  be  understood 
that  though  he  was  apparently  about  to  die,  he,  or  rather 
the  divine  incarnation  of  which  he  was  the  subject,  would 
shortly  reappear  in  the  person  of  his  successor,  whom,  I  be¬ 
lieve,  he  named  secretly.  I  do  not  exactly  know  Avlien  the 
present  claimant  first  made  known  his  pretensions  to  be 
that  successor,  but,  at  all  events,  he  was  universally  ac¬ 
knowledged  by  the  Bab  sect,  now  numbering  some  hundreds 
of  thousands,  and  became  so  formidable  a  personage,  being 
a  man  of  high  lineage — indeed,  it  is  whispered  that  he  is  a 
relative  of  the  Shah  himself — that  he  was  made  prisoner  by 
the  government  and  sent  into  exile.  The  Sultan  of  Turkey 
kindly  undertook  to  provide  for  his  incarceration,  and  for 
some  years  he  was  a  state  prisoner  at  Adrianople.  Finally 
he  was  transported  from  that  place  to  Acre,  on  giving  his 
parole  to  remain  quietly  there  and  not  return  to  Persia,  and 
here  he  has  been  living  ever  since,  an  object  of  adoration  to 
his  countrymen,  who  flock  hither  to  visit  him,  who  load  him 
with  gifts,  and  over  two  hundred  of  whom  remain  here  as 
a  sort  of  permanent  body-guard. 

He  is  visible  only  to  women  or  men  of  the  poorest  class, 
and  obstinately  refuses  to  let  his  face  be  seen  by  any  man 
above  the  rank  of  a  fellah  or  peasant.  Indeed,  his  own  dis¬ 
ciples  who  visit  him  are  only  allowed  a  glimpse  of  his  au¬ 
gust  back,  and  in  retiring  from  that  they  have  to  back  out 
with  their  faces  towards  it.  I  have  seen  a  lady  who  has 
been  honoured  with  an  interview,  during  which  he  said 
nothing  beyond  giving  her  his  blessing,  and  after  about 
three  minutes  motioned  to  her  to  retire.  She  describes 


THE  BABS  AND  THEIR  PROPHET. 


107 


him  as  a  man  of  probably  about  seventy  years  of  age,  but 
much  younger- looking,  as  he  dyes  both  his  hair  and  his 
beard  black,  but  of  a  very  mild  and  benevolent  cast  of 
countenance.  He  lives  at  a  villa  in  the  plain,  about  two 
two  miles  beyond  Acre,  which  he  has  rented  from  a  Syrian 
gentleman  of  my  acquaintance,  who  tells  me  that  once  or 
twice  he  has  seen  him  walking  in  his  garden,  but  that  he  al¬ 
ways  turns  away  so  that  his  face  shall  not  be  seen.  Indeed, 
the  most  profound  secrecy  is  maintained  in  regard  to  him 
and  the  religious  tenets  of  his  sect. 

Not  long  ago,  however,  public  curiosity  was  gratified,  for 
one  of  his  Persian  followers  stabbed  another  for  having 
been  unworthy  of  some  religious  trust,  and  the  great  man 
himself  was  summoned  as  a  witness. 

“ Will  you  tell  the  court  who  and  what  you  are?”  was 
the  first  question  put. 

“  I  will  begin,”  he  replied,  “  by  telling  you  who  I  am  not. 
I  am  not  a  camel  driver  ” — this  wTas  an  allusion  to  the  Proph¬ 
et  Mohammed  —  “nor  am  I  the  son  of  a  carpenter”  —  this 
in  allusion  to  Christ.  “This  is  as  much  as  I  can  tell  you 
to-day.  If  you  will  now  let  me  retire,  I  will  tell  you  to¬ 
morrow  who  I  am.” 

Upon  this  promise  he  was  let  go  ;  but  the  morrow  never 
came.  With  an  enormous  bribe  he  had  in  the  interval  pur¬ 
chased  an  exemption  from  all  further  attendance  at  court. 

That  his  wealth  is  fabulous  may  be  gathered  from  the 
fact  that  not  long  since  a  Persian  emir  or  prince,  possess¬ 
ing  large  estates,  came  and  offered  them  all,  if  in  return  he 
would  only  allow  him  to  fill  his  water-jars.  The  offer  was 
considered  worthy  of  acceptance,  and  the  emir  is  at  this 
moment  a  gardener  in  the  grounds  which  I  saw  over  the 
wall  of  my  friend’s  villa.  This  is  only  one  instance  of  the 
devotion  with  which  he  is  regarded,  and  of  the  honours 
which  arc  paid  to  him  :  indeed,  when  we  remember  that  he 
is  believed  to  possess  the  attributes  of  Deity,  this  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at.  Meantime  his  disciples  are  patiently  wait¬ 
ing  for  his  turn  to  come,  which  will  be  on  the  last  day, 
when  his  divine  character  will  be  recognized  by  unbelievers. 


AN  ANCIENT  JEWISH  COMMUNITY. 


Haifa,  Nov.  25. — In  one  of  the  most  remote  and  secluded 
valleys  in  the  mountains  of  northern  Galilee  lies  a  village, 
the  small  population  of  which  possesses  an  interest  altogether 
unique.  As  I  looked  down  upon  it  from  the  precipitous  and 
dangerous  path  by  means  of  which  I  was  skirting  the  flank 
of  the  mountain,  I  thought  I  had  rarely  seen  a  spot  of  such 
ideal  beauty.  It  was  an  oasis,  not  actually  in  a  desert — for 
the  rocky  mountain  ranges  were  covered  with  wild  herbage 
— but  in  a  savage  wilderness  of  desolation,  in  the  midst  of 
which  the  village  nestled  in  a  forest  of  orange,  almond,  fig, 
and  pomegranate  trees,  the  tiny  rills  of  water  by  which  they 
were  irrigated  glistening  like  silver  threads  in  the  sunlight, 
and  the  yellow  crops  beyond  contrasting  -with  the  dull 
green  of  the  hill  verdure,  long  deprived  of  water,  and  the 
gray  rocks  which  reared  their  craggy  pinnacles  above  it. 

The  name  of  this  village  was  Bukeia.  I  had  heard  vaguely 
of  the  existence  of  a  spot  in  Galilee  where  a  community  of 
Jews  lived  who  claimed  to  be  the  descendants  of  families 
who  had  tilled  the  land  in  this  same  locality  prior  to  the  de¬ 
struction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  subsequent  dispersion  of  the 
race;  as  it  had  never  been  suspected  that  any  remnant 
of  the  nation  had  clung  to  the  soil  of  their  fathers  from 
time  immemorial,  and  as  it  is  certain  that  this  is  the  only 
remnant  that  has,  I  took  some  trouble  to  ascertain  the  name 
of  the  village,  and  felt  that  it  was  worth  a  pilgrimage  to 
visit  it.  Although  hitherto  unknown  to  Europeans  and 
tourists,  it  has  been  for  many  years  a  spot  much  frequented 
by  the  Jews  of  Safed  and  Tiberias,  and  this  summer  especial¬ 
ly,  when  the  cholera  panic  prevailed  in  the  country,  there 
was  a  perfect  rush  of  the  wealthier  Jews  and  rabbis  of  those 
towns  to  its  pure  air  and  bracing  climate.  In  a  small  way 
it  is  a  sort  of  Jewish  sanatorium. 


AN  ANCIENT  JEWISH  COMMUNITY. 


109 


Bat  the  village  does  not  consist  altogether  of  Jews.  In 
fact,  they  form  the  minority  of  the  population,  which  is  com¬ 
posed  of  eighty  Druse,  forty  Greek-Cliristian,  and  twenty 
Jewish  families,  the  latter  numbering  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty  souls  in  all.  Refusing  the  invitation  of  the  Druse 
and  Christian  sheiks  to  accept  their  hospitality,  I  listened 
rather  to  the  solicitations  of  the  elderly  Hebrew  who  eager¬ 
ly  placed  his  house  at  my  disposal,  and  was  the  patriarch  of 
his  coreligionists,  his  local  title  being,  like  those  of  the  heads 
of  the  other  communities,  that  of  sheik.  Ilis  house  was  a 
stone  erection  with  a  court-yard,  and  contained  a  single  large 
room,  which,  as  is  common  in  Arab  houses,  afforded  eating 
and  sleeping  accommodation  for  the  whole  family.  On  this 
occasion  it  soon  became  crowded  to  excess. 

First  appeared  the  Druse  sheik,  with  white  turban,  and 
composed  and  dignified  bearing.  Then  the  sheik  of  the 
Christians,  a  man  in  no  way  to  be  distinguished  from  the  or¬ 
dinary  type  of  native  fellahin;  then  the  Greek  priest,  in  his 
high,  round-topped  black  hat  and  long  black  coat,  reaching 
nearly  to  his  feet;  then  the  Jewish  rabbi,  who  officiates  at 
the  synagogue,  in  flowing  Eastern  robe;  then  some  village 
notables  of  all  three  religions,  who  all  squatted  on  mats, 
forming  a  semicircle,  of  which  my  friends  and  I  were  the 
centre,  and  which  involved  a  large  demand  upon  our  host 
for  coffee,  for  on  these  occasions  it  is  a  great  breach  of  po¬ 
liteness  not  to  furnish  all  the  uninvited  guests  who  flock  in 
to  see  distinguished  strangers  with  that  invariable  beverage. 
When  one  or  two  Moslems,  who  were  temporary  visitors  to 
the  village,  dropped  in  from  curiosity,  I  could  not  fail  to  be 
struck  with  the  singular  ethnological  and  theological  com¬ 
pound  by  which  I  was  surrounded.  Here,  in  these  Christian 
and  Moslem  peasants,  were  the  descendants  of  those  ancient 
Canaanites  whom  the  conquering  Jews  failed  to  drive  out 
of  the  country  during  the  entire  period  of  their  occupation 
of  it,  though  they  doubtless  served  their  conquerors  as  hew¬ 
ers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,  and  as  farm- servants 
generally;  for  the  result  of  the  most  recent  and  exhaustive 
research  proves,  I  think,  incontestably  that  the  fellahin  of 
Palestine,  taken  as  a  whole,  are  the  modern  representatives 
of  those  old  tribes  which  the  Israelites  found  settled  in  the 


110 


HAIFA. 


country,  such  as  the  Canaanites,  Hivites,  Jebusites,  Amorites, 
Philistines,  Edomites.  In  what  proportion  these  various 
tribes  are  now  represented,  whether  they  were  preceded 
by  a  still  older  autochthonous  population,  namely,  the  Ana- 
kim,  Horites,  and  so  forth,  are  questions  which  have  so  far 
been  beyond  the  reach  of  scientific  research.  But  though 
this  race,  or  rather  conglomeration  of  races,  which  may  be 
designated  for  want  of  a  better  by  the  vague  title  of  pre- 
Israelite,  still  survives  beneath  the  Mohammedan  or  Chris¬ 
tian  exterior,  it  has  not  remained  uninfluenced  during  the 
lapse  of  centuries  by  the  many  events  and  circumstances  that 
have  happened  in  Palestine. 

Each  successive  change  in  the  social  and  political  condition 
of  the  country  has  more  or  less  affected  it  in  various  ways, 
and  we  must  not  be  surprised  when  studying  the  fellahin 
at  finding  Jewish,  Hellenic,  Rabbinic,  Christian,  and  Mussul¬ 
man  reminiscences  mingled  pell-mell,  and  in  the  quaintest 
combinations,  with  traits  which  may  bring  us  back  to  the 
most  remote  and  obscure  periods  of  pre-Israelite  existence. 
Indeed,  for  anything  one  could  say  to  the  contrary,  the 
Christian  fellahin  of  this  village,  though  they  had  resisted 
the  proselytizing  efforts  of  the  Saracen  conquest  in  the  sixth 
century,  may,  before  they  were  converted  to  Christianity, 
have  worshipped  the  gods  of  the  Gneco-Roman  period;  be¬ 
fore  that  they  may  have  been  Jews,  for  there  can  be  little 
question  that  the  aboriginal  population,  to  some  extent, 
adopted  the  Jewish  faith  after  the  conquest,  and  before  that 
were  worshippers  of  the  Syro-Phoenician  deities,  Baal  and 
Ashtaroth.  They  may  in  those  old  times,  when  Jewish 
power  was  supreme,  have  been  in  this  very  village  the  ser¬ 
vants  of  the  ancestors  of  these  very  Jews  who  now  share  its 
land  with  them,  as  they  had,  according  to  their  traditions, 
done  from  the  most  ancient  period;  and  this  means,  in  a 
country  where  genealogies  are  preserved  for  centuries  upon 
centuries,  a  very  long  time  ago.  I  have  a  friend  at  Haifa 
who  says  he  can  trace  his  ancestry  back  to  the  crusades, 
when  his  family  was  resident  at  the  old  town  of  the  same 
name;  and,  as  a  grotesque  illustration  of  their  pretensions,  a 
story  is  told  of  a  Bedouin  sheik  who,  being  asked  whether 
he  was  descended  from  Abraham,  said  that  he  could  trace 


AN  ANCIENT  JEWISH  COMMUNITY. 


Ill 


further  back,  and  that,  in  fact,  Abraham  was  not  a  sheik  of 
a  very  good  family. 

The  only  really  modern  intruders  in  the  group  by  which 
I  was  surrounded  were  the  Druses,  who  only  settled  in  the 
village  about  three  hundred  years  ago,  and  whose  origin 
prior  to  nine  hundred  years  ago,  when  we  know  that  they 
were  settled  at  Aleppo,  is  rather  obscure;  but  it  is  general¬ 
ly  believed  that  they  were  originally  a  tribe  inhabiting  the 
province  of  Yemen.  Here,  too,  in  this  small  group  of  Ara¬ 
bic-speaking  people,  were  represented  four  of  the  most  wide¬ 
ly  divergent  religions.  There  were  the  two  Moslems, 
whose  ancestors,  probably,  prior  to  the  conquest  of  Palestine 
by  the  Saracens,  had  been  Christians,  but  had  then  adopted 
the  faith  of  the  Prophet.  There  was  the  priest  of  the  Greek 
Church,  still  clinging  to  the  dogmas  which  he  inherited 
from  the  first  Christians — the  descendant,  possibly,  of  one 
who  had  actually  listened  to  the  words  of  Christ  and  his 
disciples,  in  the  country  which  their  posterity  has  never  left. 
And  indeed  it  is  a  curious  reflection  in  looking  at  these  fel- 
lahin  to  think  that  they  may  be  the  direct  descendants  of 
some  of  those  thousands  who  were  influenced  at  the  time 
by  the  teaching  which  has  since  swayed  the  moral  sentiment 
of  civilized  humanity.  Then  there  were  the  Jews — the  only 
group  of  Jews  existing  in  the  world  whose  ancestors  have 
clung  to  the  soil  ever  since  that  Teacher’s  tragic  death,  and 
whose  fathers  may  have  shared  in  the  general  hostility  to 
him  at  the  time — representing  still  the  faith  which  was  the 
repository  of  the  highest  moral  teaching  prior  to  Christian¬ 
ity,  prior  to  Mohammedanism.  Lastly,  there  were  the 
Druses,  in  whose  esoteric  religion  is  to  be  found  the  most 
extraordinary  confusion  of  metaphysical  notions,  gnostic  and 
pagan,  the  outcome  of  a  mystical  interweaving  of  ideas  de¬ 
rived  from  the  most  divergent  faiths,  with  a  Magian  or  Zo- 
roastrian  basis,  upon  which  Hindoo  and  Buddhist,  Jewish 
and  Platonic,  Christian  and  Moslem  dogmas  have  been  suc¬ 
cessively  grafted,  forming  a  system  so  recondite  and  ab¬ 
struse  that  only  the  initiated  can  comprehend  it,  if  indeed 
they  can. 

Such  were  the  mixed  religious  and  race  conditions  by 
which  I  was  surrounded,  and  I  was  much  struck  by  the  ap- 


112 


HAIFA . 


parent  tolerance  and  amiability  with  which  all  the  members 
of  these  different  religions  regarded  each  other.  The  Jew¬ 
ish  rabbi  told  me  privately  that  he  much  preferred  Druses 
to  Christians;  but  he  lived  on  good  terms  with  all.  And 
when  I  went  to  see  the  synagogue  the  Creek  priest  strolled 
round  with  me,  and  the  rabbi  returned  the  compliment  by 
accompanying  us  when  I  went  to  visit  the  little  Greek 
church.  Meantime,  the  Hebrew  sheik  had  summoned  all 
the  J ewish  population,  and  they  came  trooping  in  to  perform 
the  usual  Eastern  salutation  of  kissing  the  hand.  Old  men 
and  maidens,  young  men  and  married  women  and  children, 
I  saw  them  all,  nor,  so  far  as  dress  and  facial  type  were 
concerned,  was  it  possible  to  distinguish  them  from  the  fel- 
laliin  of  the  country  generally.  These  twenty  families 
seemed  all  to  have  descended  from  one  stock,  they  all  had 
the  same  name,  Cohen,  and  they  have  never  intermarried 
either  with  the  people  of  the  country  or  even  with  other 
Jewrs.  I  afterwards  had  some  conversation  with  the  Chris¬ 
tian  and  Druse  sheiks  in  regard  to  them.  They  said  that 
formerly  more  of  the  village  lands  belonged  to  them,  but 
owing  to  the  wars,  pestilences,  and  other  misfortunes  which 
had  overtaken  the  country  at  various  times,  their  property 
had  become  diminished;  indeed,  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  the  Druses  themselves,  when  Fakr  Eddin  conquered 
this  part  of  the  country,  appropriated  some  of  it;  so  that  now, 
so  far  as  their  worldly  circumstances  go,  the  JewTs  are  bad¬ 
ly  off.  Nevertheless  they  do  not  complain,  and  are  skilful, 
hard-working,  and  persevering  agriculturists,  to  my  mind 
more  deserving  of  sympathy  than  many  of  their  coreligion¬ 
ists  who  have  come  to  settle  in  the  country  as  colonists,  de¬ 
pending  more  upon  the  assistance  which  they  derive  from 
without  than  upon  their  own  efforts.  The  experience  and 
example  of  their  coreligionists  at  Bukeia  would  make  the 
neighbourhood  of  that  place  a  desirable  locality  for  a  col- 
ony. 

From  Bukeia  I  followed  a  northwesterly  direction,  by  a 
most  picturesque  mountain  path,  and  in  a  few  hours  reached 
the  romantically  situated  town  of  Tershiha,  where  I  was 
most  hospitably  entertained  by  the  Cadi,  a  dignified  Arab 
gentleman  of  a  true  old  Oriental  type  which  is  now  becom- 


AN  ANCIENT  JEWISH  COMMUNITY. 


113 


ing  rare.  This  place  contains  about  two  thousand  inhabi¬ 
tants.  They  are  nearly  all  the  adherents  of  a  certain  sheik, 
Ali  el-Mograbi,  a  Moslem  reformer,  who  emigrated  to  this 
place  from  the  north  of  Africa  many  years  ago,  and  whose 
preaching  has  been  attended  with  remarkable  success.  As 
his  fame  grew  he  moved  to  Acre,  where  he  exercises  an  ex¬ 
traordinary  influence.  The  tenets  of  the  sect  of  which  he 
is  the  head  are  kept  a  profound  secret,  though  there  is  noth¬ 
ing  to  distinguish  the  worship  of  the  initiated  from  that  of 
any  ordinary  sect  of  howling  dervishes,  to  the  outside  ob¬ 
server,  except  the  sparing  use  of  the  name  of  Mohammed. 
It  is  said,  however,  that  their  views  are  latitudinarian,  and, 
that,  so  far  from  being  exclusive  or  fanatic,  are  rather  in  the 
sense  of  extreme  toleration  for  other  religions.  Whatever 
be  the  nature  of  their  heterodoxy,  it  is  not  now  interfered 
with.  Indeed,  it  is  hinted  that  the  sheik  counts  among  his 
followers  some  of  the  most  highly  placed  officials  in  the  em¬ 
pire,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  his  doctrines  are 
spreading  rapidly  among  Moslems,  while  even  Christians 
have  joined  the  society.  A  large  new  mosque  is  now  in 
progress  of  erection  at  Haifa.  The  sheik  himself,  whose 
acquaintance  I  made  subsequently,  is  now  a  very  old  man, 
regarded  with  the  most  extreme  veneration  by  his  followers, 
and  the  results  of  his  teaching  prove  that  he  must  be  en¬ 
dowed  with  gifts  of  a  very  high  order. 

8 


DOMESTIC  LIFE  AMONG  THE  SYRIANS. 


Haifa,  March  1,  1884. — The  ordinary  tourists  in  Palestine 
who  write  books  of  their  experience  have  so  little  oppor¬ 
tunity  of  knowing  the  conditions  wThich  surround  the  daily 
life  of  a  resident  in  a  small  country  town,  that  a  few  details 
of  domestic  existence  here,  as  contrasted  with  those  of  more 
civilized  countries,  may  not  be  uninteresting.  As  a  general 
rule,  the  foreigner  who  comes  to  a  native  town  to  settle  down 
as  a  permanent  inhabitant  finds  himself  compelled  more  or 
less  to  adopt  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  richer  class  of 
Syrians,  which  gives  him  an  opportunity  of  becoming  ac¬ 
quainted  with  their  home  life.  Some  of  these  are  wealthy 
merchants  or  large  landed  proprietors,  with  incomes  varying 
from  $5000  to  $15,000,  though  a  man  whose  yearly  revenue 
reached  the  latter  amount,  of  which  he  would  not  spend  half, 
would  be  considered  a  millionaire,  and  few  small  towns  can 
boast  of  so  great  a  capitalist.  As,  owing  to  the  march  of 
civilization,  the  richer  classes  have  of  late  years  taken  to 
travel  and  the  study  of  languages,  persons  occupying  this 
position  generally  speak  either  French  or  Italian,  have  visited 
Paris,  Constantinople,  or  Alexandria,  and  have  a  thin  varnish 
of  European  civilization  overlaying  their  native  barbarism. 

The  rich  families  of  the  Syrian  aristocracy  are  almost  in¬ 
variably  Christians,  but  they  have  only  recently  shaken  off 
the  manners  of  their  Mohammedan  neighbours  and  con¬ 
querors.  The  women  associate  far  more  freely  than  they 
used  to  do  with  the  men.  They  now  no  longer  cover  their 
faces,  and  although  they  still  wear  the  “fustan,”  or  white 
winding-sheet,  which  serves  as  cloak  and  head-dress  in  one, 
it  nearly  always  conceals  a  dress  of  European  make,  while, 
instead  of  bare  feet  thrust  into  slippers,  they  have  Paris  bot- 
tines  and  stockings.  The  men  of  this  class  also  dress  in 
European  garments,  wearing,  however,  the  red  fez  cap. 


DOMESTIC  LIFE  AMONG  THE  SYRIANS. 


115 


The  domestic  arrangements  of  a  family  of  this  description 
are  by  no  means  so  refined  in  character  as  the  external  as¬ 
pect  of  the  house  and  its  proprietor,  when  he  is  taking  his 
exercise  on  a  gorgeously  caparisoned  Arab  horse,  would  sug¬ 
gest.  If  we  are  on  sufficiently  intimate  terms  with  him  to 
stay  as  a  guest  in  his  house,  we  find  that  his  pretty  wife, 
with  her  Paris  dress  and  dainty  chaussure,  wTalks  about  in 
the  privacy  of  the  domestic  home  with  bare,  or  at  best  stock¬ 
inged,  feet,  thrust  into  high  wooden  pattens,  with  which  she 
clatters  over  the  handsome  marble  hall  that  forms  the  central 
chamber  of  the  house,  slipping  out  her  feet  and  leaving  the 
pattens  at  the  door  of  any  of  the  rooms  she  may  be  about  to 
enter.  She  wears  a  loose  morning-wrapper,  which  she  is  not 
particular  about  buttoning,  but  in  this  respect  she  is  outdone 
by  sundry  dishevelled  maid-servants,  who  also  clatter  about 
the  house  in  pattens  and  in  light  garments  that  seem  to  re¬ 
quire  very  little  fastening  in  front.  As  for  the  husband, 
who,  when  he  called  upon  you,  might  have  come  off  the  boule¬ 
vards  of  Paris,  barring  always  the  red  cap,  he  has  now  re¬ 
verted  absolutely  into  the  Oriental.  He  wears  a  long  white 
and  not  unbecoming  garment  that  reaches  from  his  throat  to 
his  heels,  and  his  feet  are  thrust  into  red  slippers.  As  he 
sips  his  matutinal  cup  of  coffee  and  smokes  his  first  narghileh 
of  the  day,  there  is  nothing  about  him  to  remind  you  that  he 
knows  a  word  of  any  other  language  than  Arabic,  or  has  ever 
worn  any  other  costume  than  that  of  his  Eastern  ancestors. 
He  is  sitting  in  his  own  little  den,  with  his  feet  tucked  under 
him  on  the  divan  which  runs  around  the  room,  and  wTith  his 
wife  in  close  proximity,  her  feet  tucked  under  her,  and  also 
smoking  a  narghileh  and  sipping  coffee. 

Yet,  if  you  call  upon  this  worthy  couple  as  a  distinguished 
foreigner,  in  the  afternoon,  accompanied  by  your  wife,  and 
are  not  on  intimate  terms,  you  are  received  in  a  room  which 
they  never  enter,  except  upon  such  state  occasions,  by  the 
same  gentleman,  in  a  perfectly  fitting  black  frock-coat  and 
trousers,  varnished  boots,  and  a  wdiite  waistcoat,  and  by  the 
same  ladv,  in  a  dress  which  has  been  made  in  Paris. 

The  furniture  consists  of  massive  tables  with  marble  tops, 
and  handsome  arm-chairs  and  couches  covered  with  costly 
satins.  The  walls  are  resplendent  with  gilt  mirrors  and  with 


116 


HAIFA. 


heavy  hanging  curtains.  The  floors  are  covered  with  rich 
carpets.  There  is  a  three-hundred-dollar  piano,  on  which  the 
lady  never  plays;  and  there  are  pictures,  of  which  the  frames 
are  more  artistic  than  the  subjects — the  whole  having  the  air 
of  a  show  repository  of  some  sort.  Indeed,  if  your  host  is  at 
all  taken  by  surprise,  the  first  thing  he  does  is  to  open  all 
the  shutters,  as,  except  upon  such  occasions,  the  apartment  is 
one  of  silent  and  absolute  gloom.  He  has  a  guest-chamber, 
also  furnished  after  a  civilized  style,  in  which  he  puts  you, 
if  you  are  going  to  stay  with  him,  and  he  has  so  far  adopted 
civilized  habits  that  he  sleeps  on  a  bed  himself,  and  not  on 
mats  on  the  floor,  like  his  forefathers.  His  dinner  is  served 
on  a  table,  which  is  spread  as  he  has  seen  it  spread  in  the 
houses  of  foreigners,  but  he  retains  the  native  cooking,  the 
huge  pillaw  of  rice,  the  chicken  stew  with  rich  and  greasy 
gravy,  the  lamb  stuffed  with  pistachio  nuts,  the  leben  or  sour 
milk,  the  indescribable  sweet  dishes,  crisp,  sticky,  and  nutty, 
the  delicious  preserves  of  citrons,  dates,  and  figs,  the  flat 
bread  and  the  goat  cheese,  and  the  wine  of  the  country. 

Altogether,  he  gives  you  plenty  to  eat,  drink,  and  smoke, 
but  his  conversational  powers  and  ideas  are  limited,  which 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  considering  that  there  is  not  a 
book  in  the  house.  He  tells  you  that  the  house  cost  him 
$9000,  which  does  not  seem  likely  to  be  an  exaggeration 
when  wre  look  at  the  handsome  marble  floors  and  staircase, 
massive  arches,  and  the  extent  of  ground  which  is  covered  by 
spacious  halls  and  ample  courts. 

The  kitchen  and  offices,  if  you  have  the  curiosity  to  look 
into  them,  are  filthy  in  the  extreme,  and  the  process  of  cook¬ 
ing  the  dinner,  performed  by  a  slovenly  female,  had  better 
not  be  too  closely  examined.  His  domestic  establishment 
probably  consists  of  four  women  and  twx>  or  three  men  who 
look  after  the  stables,  in  which  are  three  or  four  handsome 
horses,  and  a  garden  requiring  constant  attention.  He  has  no 
wheeled  vehicle,  for  there  are  no  roads.  The  women  rarely 
take  any  other  exercise  than  that  of  waddling  on  gossiping 
visits  to  each  other,  when  their  conversation  turns  entirely 
on  domestic  subjects,  on  the  marital  traits  of  their  respective 
husbands,  on  congratulations  on  the  arrival  of  children,  if 
they  are  boys,  and  condolences  if  they  are  girls,  and  on  hope- 


DOMESTIC  LIFE  AMONG  TEE  SYRIANS. . 


117 


ful  speculation  and  encouragement  if  there  are  none  at  all  ; 
for  of  all  misfortunes  which  can  befall  a  Syrian  lady,  to  be 
childless  is  the  greatest.  If  there  are  grown-up  daughters 
they  are  carefully  protected  from  intimacy  with  young  men, 
and  marriages  are  arranged  by  the  parents.  The  chances  of 
making  a  good  match  depend  more  on  the  amount  of  the 
marriage-settlement  than  on  their  looks.  If  the  family  hap¬ 
pens  to  be  a  large  one  it  is  not  uncommon  to  see  a  young 
lady  who  has  been  brought  up  in  what,  in  Syria,  is  consid¬ 
ered  luxury,  married  to  some  poor  9nd  distant  connection, 
whose  family  live  in  the  humblest  manner.  In  such  a  case 
the  contrast  is  greater  than  can  be  imagined  in  our  country. 
She  is  transferred  from  the  palatial  residence  I  have  de¬ 
scribed  to  a  one-storied  house  which  probably  does  not  con¬ 
sist  of  more  than  two  rooms,  and  where  her  husband’s  fam¬ 
ily  live  in  the  old  style.  Here  she  is  received,  perhaps,  by 
his  mother  and  sister,  with  whom  she  is  to  live;  who  wear 
the  pure  native  costume ;  who  have  never  had  a  shoe  or 
stocking  on  in  their  lives;  who  sleep  on  mats  on  the  floor, 
for  there  are  no  bedsteads;  who  partake  of  their  meals  squat¬ 
ting  on  their  heels,  for  there  are  no  chairs  or  tables;  and 
who  eat  with  their  fingers,  for  there  are  no  knives  and  forks. 

If  the  newly  married  couple  do  not  occupy  the  same  room 
with  the  rest  of  the  family,  they  share  the  other  one  with 
the  domestic  animals.  These  probably  consist  of  a  horse,  a 
cow,  and  a  donkey.  For  the  sake  of  security  they  are  stabled 
in  the  room  of  the  master  of  the  house.  Their  manger  is  on 
a  level  with  the  floor  on  which  he  and  his  bride  sleep.  I 
have  before  now  shared  such  a  room  with  a  young  married 
couple — she,  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy  man  who  lived  in  ' 
civilized  style — and  all  night  I  have  been  disturbed  by  the 
crunching  of  the  animals  feeding  within  a  few  feet  of  where 
I  was  lying;  with  their  constant  rising  up  and  lying  down; 
with  the  movements  of  my  host  and  hostess,  who  would  get 
up  constantly  in  the  night,  sometimes  to  feed  the  animals, 
which  were  required  for  work  before  sunrise,  sometimes  to 
replenish  the  charcoal  fire,  sometimes  to  attend  to  the  baby, 
or  to  open  the  door  and  hold  a  whispered  conference  with 
some  nocturnal  visitor.  As  there  is  no  undressing  on  going 
to  bed,  among  these  people,  and  as  they  indulge  in  long 


118 


HAIFA. 


snoozes  during  the  day,  the  night  does  not  seem  to  he  so 
especially  devoted  to  sleep  as  with  us.  They  appear  to 
think  that,  as  going  to  bed  simply  consists  in  lying  down 
on  the  floor  in  your  clothes,  one  part  of  the  twenty-four 
hours  will  do  as  well  for  sleep  as  another,  and  their  nights 
are  restless  accordingly.  As  a  general  rule,  for  persons 
who  have  not  been  long  enough  in  the  country  to  get 
used  to  insects,  the  nights  are  made  restless  from  other 
causes. 

It  is  curious,  in  the  case  of  such  a  marriage  as  I  have 
described,  to  see  the  change  which  takes  place  when  the 
young  wife  leaves  the  retired  village  to  which  she  has  been 
banished,  owing  to  the  impoverished  circumstances  of  her  hus¬ 
band,  to  pay  a  visit  to  her  own  family.  I  scarcely  recognize 
her  when  I  meet  her  aa^ain.  When  last  I  saw  her  in  her 
humble  home  her  costume  consisted  of  a  thin  sort  of  chemi¬ 
sette,  a  pair  of  full,  baggy  trousers  fastened  at  the  knee, 
leaving  the  legs  and  feet  bare,  and  over  these  a  skirt,  and  we 
were  dipping  our  fingers  amicably  into  the  same  dish  of  rice. 
Now  I  would  walk  down  Broadway  with  her  on  my  arm,  and 
be  rather  proud  of  her  fashionable  “  get  up  ”  than  otherwise; 
and  she  handles  her  knife  and  fork  with  far  greater  dexter¬ 
ity  than  I  did  my  fingers. 

The  wave  of  civilization  is,  however,  rapidly  encroaching 
upon  these  humbler  classes.  It  is  only  natural  that  a  girl 
brought  up  in  this  way  should  endeavour  to  introduce  in¬ 
novations  into  her  husband’s  home.  Within  the  last  few 
years  there  has  been  a  marked  change  in  this  respect,  par¬ 
ticularly  in  a  town  like  Haifa,  where  the  Christian  popula¬ 
tion  largely  predominates.  A  veiled  face  is  rarely  to  be  seen, 
wfifile  women,  even  of  the  poorer  classes,  are  introducing  the 
fashion  of  wearing  gowns,  adding  a  table  and  a  few  chairs 
to  their  domestic  furniture,  and  have  even  gone  the  length 
of  sleeping  on  bedsteads,  though  I  have  not  yet  pried  suf¬ 
ficiently  into  nocturnal  mysteries  to  know  whether,  when 
they  go  to  bed,  they  have  progressed  in  civilization  so  far  as 
to  undress. 


FISHING  ON  LAKE  TIBERIAS. 


Haifa,  April  2. — I  have  just  returned  from  a  trip  into 
the  interior,  during  which  I  have  been  exploring  some  new 
and  interesting  country.  Instead  of  following  the  usual 
road  to  the  eastward  by  way  of  the  valley  of  Esdraelon,  I 
struck  in  a  northeasterly  direction  across  the  fertile  plain 
of  Acre,  fording  the  Kishon  at  the  point  of  its  debouchure 
into  the  sea,  where,  after  the  winter  rains,  we  are  generally 
obliged  to  swim  the  horses,  while  we  cross  ourselves  in  a  ferry¬ 
boat.  In  two  hours  from  this  point  we  strike  the  first  low 
range  of  the  Galilee  hills,  at  a  depression  from  which,  in  the 
times  of  the  crusaders,  the  armies  of  Saladin  used  to  issue 
forth  to  give  them  battle.  Indeed,  the  whole  ground  over 
which  we  ride  has  been  from  time  immemorial  the  scene  of 
bloody  warfare,  and  it  is  not  impossible,  considering  how 
events  are  shaping  themselves  in  the  East,  that  it  may  be¬ 
come  so  again.  Rising  gently,  by  grassy  vales  carpeted 
with  wild  flowers,  to  a  height  of  about  five  hundred  feet, 
we  shortly  reach  the  picturesquely  situated  town  of  Shefr 
Amr,  dominated  by  the  extensive  walls  of  its  ruined 
castle. 

This  has  been  a  place  of  considerable  importance  ever 
since,  shortly  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  it  was  the 
seat  of  the  Jewish  sanhedrim.  It  was  then  called  Shefaram, 
and  is  probably  identical  with  the  Kefraim  which  Eusebius 
says  was  six  miles  north  of  Legio,  and  with  Hapraim,  which 
wTe  read  in  the  Bible  was  assigned  to  the  tribe  of  Issachar. 
Since  then  its  name  has  been  changed  to  Shefr  Amr,  or  “  the 
healiim  of  Omar,”  from  a  tradition  that  Halier  el- Amr,  a 
prince  who  governed  this  country  about  a  hundred  and 
sixty  years  ago,  recovered  here  from  a  severe  illness.  The 
fortress  is  said  to  have  been  built  by  his  son  Othman  in 
1761,  and  it  does  not  appear  to  be  older,  though  probably  it 


120 


HAIFA. 


occupies  the  site  of  a  much  more  ancient  castle.  It  covers 
a  very  extensive  area  of  ground,  with  crenellated  battlements, 
and  contains  stalls  for  four  hundred  horses.  It  is  now 
partly  ruined,  but  a  portion  of  it  is  still  sufficiently  well 
preserved  to  be  the  residence  of  the  Mudir,  or  local  gov¬ 
ernor. 

I  scrambled  by  a  most  dilapidated  stone  stair  to  the  top 
of  the  walls,  and  had  a  magnificent  view  over  the  surround¬ 
ing  country.  The  position  is  so  commanding  that  I  could 
well  understand  why  Saladin  chose  it  as  a  point  from  which 
he  could  harass  the  Franks  who  were  besieging  Acre,  which 
town  was  plainly  visible  in  the  distance.  I  was  informed 
that  the  whole  of  this  extensive  fortress  was  offered  by  tho 
government  for  sale  for  $1500.  The  stones  alone  would  bo 
worth  more  than  this  amount,  if  it  were  not  for  the  cost  of 
transport,  to  say  nothing  of  the  area  of  land  which  they 
cover.  But,  as  a  matter  of  speculation,  Barnum’s  pink-and- 
white  elephant  wTould  be  about  as  convenient  a  possession 
for  a  private  individual.  It  is  no  wonder  that  it  has  been 
for  some  time  in  the  market,  or  that  the  town  itself,  when 
capital  is  so  scarce,  should  be  a  sleepy  looking,  stagnant 
place.  Still,  it  is  better  built  than  the  average;  the  houses 
are  generally  constructed  of  stone — many  of  them  are  of  two 
stories — there  is  a  fair  bazaar,  and  a  population  of  about 
two  thousand  five  hundred  inhabitants,  of  which  fifteen 
hundred  are  Greek  Christians,  three  hundred  Moslems,  six 
hundred  Druses,  and  the  remainder  Jews.  Some  thirty  fam¬ 
ilies  of  Morocco  Jews  settled  here  as  agriculturists  about 
the  year  1850,  but  after  struggling  against  extortion  for 
twenty  years  they  had  to  give  it  up,  and  the  colony  is  now 
extinct,  the  Jews  now  here  being  natives  of  the  country. 
The  Dm  se  population  is  also  rapidly  diminishing  from  the 
same  cause;  a  slow  but  steady  migration  takes  place  annu¬ 
ally  to  the  Druse  mountains  to  the  east  of  the  Hauran, 
where  they  are  practically  independent  of  government  con¬ 
trol;  there  are  also  a  few  Protestants  here,  with  a  school- 
house,  besides  a  convent  and  church  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
nuns  (Dames  de  Nazareth),  built  in  1866,  with  a  girls’ 
school. 

The  only  other  interesting  building  at  Shefr  Amr  is  the 


FISHING  ON  LAKE  TIBERIAS. 


121 


Greek  church,  which  has  been  rebuilt  on  old  foundations. 
The  remains  were  evidently  Byzantine  work,  dating  proba¬ 
bly  from  the  fifth  or  sixth  century.  Many  interesting  tombs 
are  to  be  found  both  north  and  south  of  the  town.  The 
most  noteworthy  has  a  handsome  facade,  covered  with  a  de- 
sign  of  a  vine  with  grapes  in  bold  relief,  and  with  small  fig¬ 
ures  of  birds  introduced.  Each  vine-plant  grows  out  of  a 
pot.  On  each  side  of  the  door  is  an  effaced  Greek  inscrip¬ 
tion,  with  rosettes  in  lozenges  below  and  birds  above. 
Here,  also,  are  fragments  of  Greek  inscriptions,  and  on  the 
left  side-wall  of  the  vestibule  is  a  bas-relief  of  a  lion  and  a 
small  animal,  perhaps  a  cub;  on  the  right  a  lion,  a  cub,  and 
a  bird.  The  drawing  is  very  primitive,  and  has  a  Byzan¬ 
tine  appearance.  Inside  this  tomb,  which  contains  three 
loculi,  there  are  mouldings  round  the  principal  arch,  with 
tracery  of  vines  and  carvings  of  birds.  These  tombs  are  in¬ 
teresting  because  both  the  inscriptions  and  ornamentation 
belong  to  the  Byzantine  period,  thus  proving  that  the  mode 
of  sepulture  practised  by  the  Jews  from  the  most  remote 
date  was  continued  by  the  Christians  up  to  the  fifth  or 
sixth  century  after  Christ. 

Our  way  from  Shefr  Amr  led  through  the  beautiful  oak 
woods  which  belong  to  that  town,  but  which  seem  doomed 
to  destruction,  for  I  observed  that  many  of  the  handsomest 
trees  were  girdled  near  the  base,  while  numerous  stumps 
bore  testimony  to  this  lamentable  work  of  denudation.  In 
a  country  where  w7ood  is  becoming  so  rare  it  was  heart¬ 
breaking  to  ride  through  this  beautiful,  park-like  scenery 
and  witness  the  work  of  destruction  going  on  in  spite  of  the 
government  prohibition  against  felling  timber.  Emerging 
from  these  grassy  glades  we  descend  into  the  magnificent 
plain  of  the  Buttauf,  now  a  sheet  of  emerald  green,  as  the 
young  crops  extend  before  us  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach. 
Traversing  this  fertile  country  one  is  more  and  more  impressed 
with  the  incorrectness  of  the  judgment  of  the  ordinary  tour¬ 
ist,  who,  confining  himself  to  the  route  prescribed  by  Cook, 
is  taken  through  the  barren  hills  of  Judea,  and  to  one  or 
two  holy  places  in  Galilee,  and  then  goes  home  and  talks 
about  the  waste  and  desolation  of  Palestine.  The  trite  say¬ 
ing  recurred  to  my  mind  as  I  looked  on  this  wealth  of  grain : 


122 


HAIFA. 


“  I  pity  the  man  who  can  go  from  Dan  to  Beersheba  and 
say  that  all  is  barren;”  or,  as  my  travelling  -  companion, 
who  was  an  American,  more  forcibly  put  it:  “If  ever  I 
meet  a  tourist  wTho  tells  me  that  Palestine  is  barren,  I’ll 
lick  him.” 

But  we  were  not  on  the  tourist  track,  and  it  was  not  till  we 
reached  Tiberias  that  we  found  specimens,  and  they  were 
too  discreet  in  their  remarks  to  give  my  friend  an  opportu¬ 
nity  of  expressing  his  views  in  the  manner  contemplated. 
Here  we  took  a  boat  and  crossed  the  lake.  I  wanted  to  in¬ 
vestigate  the  present  fishing  capabilities  of  these  waters,  but 
I  soon  found  that  I  had  not  the  appropriate  tackle.  The 
natives  either  fish  with  circular  hand-nets,  which  they  throw 
with  great  dexterity,  or  with  long  hand -lines,  which  they 
bait  with  small  dead  fish  and  haul  in,  thus  trawling  in  a 
rough  way.  They  have  no  idea  of  fishing  with  a  rod,  and 
mine  came  to  grief,  so  that  I  had  no  opportunity  of  casting 
a  fly,  but  I  think  it  not  unlikely,  from  the  way  I  saw  the 
fish  jumping  towards  evening,  that  they  would  rise  to  it. 
The  natives  catch  their  bait  by  poisoning  the  water  with 
pinches  of  a  powder  which  they  throw  in  near  the  margin. 
In  a  few  moments  the  minnows  and  small  fish  are  to  be  seen 
swimming  lazily  along  the  surface,  completely  stupefied,  and 
one  has  only  to  put  one’s  hand  in  and  take  them  out.  The 
fish  we  caught  were  principally  of  the  bass  or  perch  species, 
averaging  half  a  pound  or  more  each.  One  of  the  boatmen 
caught  a  dozen  with  two  or  three  casts  of  the  hand-net,  but 
it  was  useless  to  try  with  a  rod  without  proper  tackle.  I 
am  convinced  that  a  spinning  artificial  minnow,  or  a  copper 
spoon,  would  be  very  killing;  so,  of  course,  would  be  trawl¬ 
ing  live  bait,  but  the  natives  know  only  their  own  primitive 
style  of  fishing,  and  the  idea  of  a  rod  and  line,  even  with 
the  common  angle-worm  at  one  end  and  a  fool  at  the  other, 
was  entirely  new  to  them.  Indeed,  scarcely  any  fish  are 
taken  from  the  lake.  There  are  only  four  boats  on  it,  but 
these  are  used  more  for  transport  than  fishing  purposes,  and 
the  population  is  so  sparse  on  the  shores  that  there  is  no  de¬ 
mand.  We  were  assured  by  our  boatmen,  however,  that 
they  occasionally  took  fish  over  five  feet  in  length,  and  I 
have  seen  enough  of  what  may  be  done  to  decide  me  to  go 


FISHING  ON  LAKE  TIBERIAS. 


123 


there  again  some  day  properly  provided,  instead  of  relying 
on  native  appliances. 

The  spot  at  which  we  were  moored  on  the  eastern  shore 
of  the  lake  was  immediately  under  a  precipitous  conical¬ 
shaped  hill,  which  rose  abruptly  to  a  height  of  twelve  hun¬ 
dred  feet  from  the  waters.  Its  summit  was  crowned  with 
the  ruins  of  the  ancient  city  of  Gamala.  The  modern  name 
for  it  is  Kalat  el-Hosn,  but  it  owes  its  ancient  appellation 
to  its  shape,  which  is  exactly  that  of  a  camel’s  hump.  It  is 
interesting  as  having  been  a  purely  Jewish  fortification,  the 
last  that  was  sacked  by  Vespasian  and  Titus  before  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem,  and  it  has  remained  to  this  day  exactly 
as  they  left  it.  Josephus  gives  a  very  graphic  account  of 
the  siege,  which  took  place  in  the  last  days  of  September, 
sixty-nine  years  after  the  birth  of  Christ.  Owing  to  the 
precipices  by  which  it  was  surrounded  it  was  supposed  to 
be  impregnable,  and  when,  at  last,  after  a  twenty-nine 
days’  siege,  it  was  found  not  to  be  so,  the  whole  popula¬ 
tion  who  had  survived  its  horrors,  consisting  of  five  thou¬ 
sand  men,  women,  and  children,  flung  themselves  into  the 
yawning  gulf  below  the  ramparts,  thus  perishing  by  their 
own  act.  Of  the  entire  population  only  two  women  es¬ 
caped  alive. 

When  wTe  compare  the  fighting  of  those  days  with  the 
siege  of  Paris,  for  instance,  where  the  population  surren¬ 
dered  because  there  was  a  little  too  much  sawdust  in  the 
bread,  the  results  of  modern  as  contrasted  with  ancient  civ¬ 
ilization  suggest  some  curious  reflections.  That  the  civiliza¬ 
tion  of  those  days  was  of  a  high  order  is  attested  by  the 
magnificent  remains  which  still  exist  in  Gamala.  Here  are 

O 

to  be  found,  strewn  over  the  ground,  some  thirty  huge 
granite  columns,  which  must  have  been  transported  from 
Egypt  to  this  giddy  height  by  engineering  contrivances 
which  would  puzzle  the  science  of  these  days,  and  Corin¬ 
thian  capitals  neatly  cut  in  hard,  black  basalt,  and  sar¬ 
cophagi  and  other  monuments,  all  evidencing  a  high  state 
of  art. 

These  ruins  have  hitherto  been  only  superficially  exam¬ 
ined,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  investigations  of 
the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  when  the  society  is  per- 


124 


HAIFA . 


mitted  "by  tlio  Turkish  government  to  prosecute  their  re¬ 
searches  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  will  bring  many  interest¬ 
ing  treasures  to  light.  I  only  regretted  that  I  had  no  time 
to  give  to  these  ruins,  as  my  objective  point  lay  farther  to 
the  south  and  east. 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  SULPHUR  SPRINGS  OF  AMATHA. 


Haifa,  April  15. — At  the  spot  where  the  Jordan  issues 
from  Lake  Tiberias  there  are  two  large  mounds,  a  fragment 
of  sea-wall,  and  a  causeway  on  arches  which  projects  into  the 
river,  dividing  it  from  the  waters  of  the  lake,  and  suggest¬ 
ing  that  it  may  possibly,  in  ancient  times,  have  formed  the 
approach  to  a  bridge.  There  is  no  bridge  there  now.  The 
river  swirls  round  the  arches,  which  are  choked  with  ruins 
and  -reeds,  and  in  a  broad,  swift  stream  winds  its  way  to  the 
Dead  Sea.  Here,  in  old  time,  stood  the  Roman  city  of  Ta- 
richsea,  built  on  the  site  of  a  Phoenician  fortress  of  still  older 
date.  Nothing  remains  but  heaps  of  rubbish  covered  with 
broken  pottery,  and  fragments  of  sculpture;  but  it  offers, 
probably,  a  rich  field  for  future  excavation.  The  modern 
name  Kerak  signifies  in  Syriac  “fortress,”  and  its  natural 
position  was  remarkably  strong,  as  the  Jordan,  after  leaving 
the  lake,  takes  a  sharp  bend  to  the  westward  and  flows  al¬ 
most  parallel  with  it,  thus  leaving  an  intervening  peninsula 
on  which  the  town  was  situated.  It  was  defended  on  the 
westward  by  a  broad  ditch,  traces  of  which  still  remain,  con¬ 
necting  the  Jordan  with  the  lake,  thus  making  the  peninsula 
an  island  approached  only  by  a  causeway. 

Josephus  mentions  Taricha3a  as  having  been  an  important 
military  post  in  the  wars  of  his  time.  When  I  visited  it  the 
lake  was  unusually  high,  and  the  Jordan  was  unfordable,  so 
we  were  obliged  to  ferry  over,  swimming  our  horses  and  mules 
a  distance  of  seventy  or  eighty  yards  across  the  rapid  current. 
Then  we  mounted,  and  galloped  in  a  southeasterly  direction, 
over  a  fertile  plain,  waving  at  this  season  of  the  year  with 
luxuriant  crops.  I  was  so  much  struck  with  the  fertility  and 
agricultural  capacity  of  this  region  that  I  made  inquiry  as 
to  its  ownership,  and  found  that  it  had  been  presented  by  a 
former  sultan  to  one  of  the  principal  Bedouin  sheiks  of  this 


126 


HAIFA . 


Eastern  country,  and  that  he  was  exempt  from  all  taxation. 
His  lands  extend  to  the  foothills,  where  the  Yarmuk  issues 
from  the  mountains, of  Gilead  and  Jaulan,  which  wTe  were 
now  approaching.  We  had  ascended  these  but  a  little  way 
when  a  scene  burst  upon  us  which  surprised  and  delighted 
us  by  its  wild  and  unexpected  grandeur.  The  Yarmuk  here 
enters  the  plain  of  the  Jordan  on  its  way  to  join  that  river, 
with  a  volume  of  water  fully  equal  to  the  latter,  pouring  its 
swollen  torrent  between  two  perfectly  perpendicular  preci¬ 
pices  of  basalt,  which  are  about  two  hundred  yards  apart, 
and  look  like  some  majestic  gateway  expressly  designed  by 
nature  to  afford  the  river  a  fitting  outlet  to  the  plain  after 
its  wild  course  through  the  mountains. 

On  each  side  of  these  cliffs  the  country  swells  back  abrupt¬ 
ly  to  a  height  of  seventeen  hundred  feet  above  the  stream. 
At  their  base,  here  and  there,  the  limestone  or  basalt  rock,  for 
the  two  formations  are  curiously  intermixed,  crops  out  sharp¬ 
ly,  forming  terraces  with  precipitous  sides.  The  more  distant 
summits  are  fringed  with  oak  forests.  The  general  effect 
of  the  landscape,  as  you  first  burst  upon  it  after  leaving  the 
J ordan  valley,  is  in  the  highest  degree  impressive.  The  path, 
gradually  ascending,  winds  along  the  edge  of  cliffs,  rising  to 
a  sheer  height  of  three  hundred  feet  from  the  torrent  which 
foams  beneath.  We  are  so  close  to  their  margin  on  the 
right  that  it  makes  us  giddy  to  look  down,  while  on  the  left 
hand  grassy  slopes,  covered  with  wild  flowers,  rise  to  the 
base  of  other  cliffs  above  us.  For  an  hour  we  wind  along 
these  dizzy  ledges.  In  one  place  I  observed  a  hundred  feet 
of  limestone  superimposed  upon  two  hundred  of  basalt,  the 
whole  forming  a  black-and-white  precipice  very  remarkable 
to  look  upon.  In  fact,  my  further  investigations  of  this 
valley  of  the  Yarmuk,  some  portion  of  which,  I  believe,  we 
were  the  first  to  explore,  have  convinced  me  that  it  affords 
finer  scenery  than  is  to  be  found  in  any  other  part  of  Pales¬ 
tine.  It  is  astonishing  that  it  should  have  remained  until 
now  almost  entirely  unknown.  Where  the  valley  opened  a 
little  we  saw  beneath  us  a  small  plain,  almost  encircled  by 
the  river,  and  on  it  about  twenty  Bedouin  tents.  Our  unex¬ 
pected  and  novel  appearance  on  the  cliff  above  evidently 
caused  some  little  stir  and  amazement,  but  they  were  too  far 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  SULPHUR  SPRINGS  OF  AMATHA.  127 

below  us  to  communicate  with,  so  we  pushed  on  to  a  point 
where  the  path  suddenly  plunged  down  by  a  series  of  steps 
between  walls  of  black  basalt,  making  a  very  steep  descent 
for  loaded  mules,  and  one  not  altogether  pleasant  for  mounted 
men.  It  had  the  advantage  of  bringing  us  soon  to  the  bot¬ 
tom,  however,  but  not  before  my  eyes  were  gladdened  by 
the  sight  of  one  of  the  objects  for  which  I  had  undertaken 
the  trip. 

At  my  feet,  and  separated  from  the  river  by  a  narrow 
strip  of  land  covered  with  bushes,  was  a  long  pool  of  bluish- 
gray  water,  in  marked  contrast  with  the  yellow  stream. 
Above  it  floated  a  very  light  mist,  or,  rather,  haze.  Follow¬ 
ing  with  the  eye  a  little  stream  of  the  same  coloured  water 
which  entered  it,  past  a  primitive  mill,  I  saw  that  it  de¬ 
bouched  from  another  pond  similar  in  colour,  and  evidently 
its  source,  and  to  this  our  path  was  conducting  us.  It  was 
the  first  of  the  hot  sulphur  springs  of  Amatha,  celebrated 
by  Eusebius  as  being  much  frequented  in  the  time  of  the 
Romans,  and  famous  for  their  healing  qualities.  We  soon 
reached  its  margin,  and,  dismounting,  tethered  our  horses 
under  the  shade  of  a  large  tree,  and  stretched  ourselves  for 
a  rest  after  our  ride,  preparatory  to  a  slight  repast  and  a 
more  minute  investigation  of  the  springs  and  the  ruins  by 
which  they  are  surrounded.  Our  nostrils  were  regaled  by  a 
strong  odour  of  rotten  eggs,  which  left  no  doubt  in  our 
minds  as  to  the  quality  of  the  water  in  the  immediate  neigh¬ 
borhood.  We  were  here  at  a  depression  of  five  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  sea,  but  the  climate,  which 
must  be  intolerably  hot  in  summer,  was  at  this  time  of  year 
delightful.  We  were  soon  sufficiently  rested  to  scramble 
down  to  the  pool,  only  a  few  yards  below  us,  which  was  about 
fifty  yards  long  by  thirty  broad,  and  apparently  five  or  six  feet 
deep.  The  temperature  was  98°,  and  the  taste  of  the  water 
very  strongly  sulphurous.  Then  we  ascended  a  mound  be¬ 
hind,  covered  with  ruins,  consisting  principally  of  fragments 
of  columns,  carved  stone  seats,  and  drafted  blocks  which 
had  been  used  for  building  purposes.  Immediately  behind 
this  mound  was  an  extensive  ruin,  consisting  of  three  arches 
in  a  fair  state  of  preservation.  Two  of  the  arches  were  fif- 

jk. 

teen  or  twenty  feet  high,  and  enclosed  a  semicircular  space 


128 


HAIFA. 


or  hall  for  bathers.  On  the  other  side  was  a  vaulted  build¬ 
ing  which  partly  enclosed  wThat  is  at  this  day  the  only  fre¬ 
quented  spring.  This  is  a  circular  pool.  Part  of  the  old 
masonry  which  enclosed  it  still  remains.  The  pool  is  about 
twenty-five  feet  wide,  with  a  temperature  so  high  that  I  found 
it  impossible  to  keep  my  hand  in  it.  To  my  great  astonish¬ 
ment,  and  to  theirs  also  when  they  saw  me  suddenly  appear, 
four  or  five  Arabs  were  bathing  in  it.  How  their  bodies 
could  support  the  heat  was  to  me  a  mystery.  They  did  not 
support  it  long.  They  were  no  sooner  in  than  out,  their 
bodies  looking  as  much  like  lobsters  as  the  complexion  of 
their  skins  would  permit.  They  laughed,  and  invited  me  to 
join  them.  One  or  two  were  stretched  full  length  on  the 
identical  stone  slabs  under  the  building  on  which,  doubtless, 
two  thousand  years  ago,  the  bathers  of  that  date  used  to  re¬ 
pose  after  having  been  half  boiled  alive. 

This  spring  must  be  of  immense  volume,  to  judge  by  the 
size  of  the  torrent  which  gushed  from  it,  and  which  was 
crossed  on  stepping-stones,  flowing  away  in  what  would  be 
considered  a  good-sized  trout  stream,  to  mingle  its  waters 
with  the  Yarmuk  after  a  course  of  a  few  hundred  yards. 
We  determined,  when  our  tents  arrived,  to  pitch  them  near 
this  spring,  on  the  brink  of  another  stream  which  flowed 
in  from  the  eastward,  and  which,  though  slightly  sulphu¬ 
rous,  was  drinkable.  Indeed,  we  did  not  object  to  taking  a 
moderate  amount  of  this  wholesome  medicament  into  our 
organisms.  We  found  another  strong  spring,  not  quite  so 
hot  as  the  one  in  use,  a  little  above  our  tents,  so  that  there 
is  no  lack  of  water.  Indeed,  I  doubt  whether  sulphur  springs 
of  so  much  volume  exist  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  Not 
far  from  this,  with  its  back  to  another  mound,  were  the  ruins 
of  an  old  Roman  theatre,  some  of  the  rows  of  seats  still 
clearly  discernible. 

These  springs  are  situated  on  a  plain  about  a  mile  long 
and  half  a  mile  broad,  semicircular  in  shape,  the  chord  of  the 
arc  consisting  of  a  line  of  basalt  precipices,  from  which  it 
slopes  gradually  to  the  river,  which  forms  the  bow.  It  is 
watered  by  a  good  fresh- water  spring,  which  rushes  from 
the  base  of  the  cliffs.  The  hot  sulphur  stream  which  issues 
from  the  pool  we  first  visited  turns  a  mill  and  then  flows  into 


A  VISIT  TO  TIIE  SULPHUR  SPRINGS  OF  AM ATII A.  129 


the  long,  oblong  pond  I  first  saw  from  above.  Here,  after 
the  exertions  of  the  day,  I  determined  to  bathe.  I  never 
enjoyed  a  swim  more  than  the  one  in  this  soft  sulphur  water, 
with  a  temperature  of  95°.  The  pool  was  about  one  hundred 
yards  long  and  ten  wide,  and  out  of  my  depth  nearly  through¬ 
out  its  length.  The  rocks,  upon  which  I  could  sit  comfort¬ 
ably  up  to  my  neck,  where  the  stream  entered  the  pool  were 
covered  with  a  heavy  white  deposit.  The  sensation  after¬ 
wards  was  one  of  delicious  languor;  but  my  full  enjoyment 
of  the  bath  was  a  little  marred  by  the  fact  that  I  had  to 
walk  a  quarter  of  a  mile  back  to  the  tents  afterwards.  I  had 
a  long  talk  on  my  way,  to  the  miller,  the  solitary  resident  of 
this  lonely  but  enchanting  spot,  and  tried  to  induce  him  to 
desert  the  mill,  of  which  he  was  the  guardian,  and  act  as  my 
guide  up  the  river  on  the  following  day;  but  he  was  either 
too  conscientious,  too  lazy,  or  too  ignorant — I  suspect  the 
latter,  as  I  found  by  experience  that  all  the  information  he 
gave  me  of  a  topographical  nature  was  utterly  erroneous. 
It  was,  therefore,  with  a  pleasing  sense  of  anticipation  that 
we  retired  to  rest,  determined  to  trust  to  our  own  geographi¬ 
cal  instincts  alone  for  our  proposed  exploration. 

9 


EXPLORATION  OF  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE 

YARMXJK. 


Haifa,  April  30. — In  my  last  letter  I  described  the  little- 
known  hot  sulphur  springs  of  Amatha,  with  their  extensive 
ruins,  which  indicate  the  celebrity  they  must  have  acquired 
in  the  days  of  the  Romans.  As  the  river  Yarmuk  above 
this  point  had,  so  far  as  I  know,  never  been  explored,  I  deter¬ 
mined  to  push  up  the  gorges  through  which  it  cleaves  its 
way  from  the  highlands  of  the  Hauran  to  the  valley  of  the 
Jordan. 

Some  years  ago  I  had  crossed  it  about  thirty  miles  higher 
up,  where  it  flows  across  a  plateau  at  an  elevation  of  1800 
feet  above  the  sea.  I  was  now  standing  on  its  margin,  550 
feet  below  the  sea.  In  the  course  of  this  thirty  miles,  there¬ 
fore,  it  has  a  fall  of  2350  feet.  In  other  words,  it  was  a  fair 
presumption  that  there  was  a  waterfall  somewhere  between 
those  two  points  which  had  never  been  visited.  The  inquiries 
which  I  made  from  the  natives  on  the  point  were  unsatis¬ 
factory  in  their  result.  They  seemed  unable  to  discriminate 
between  a  rapid  and  a  waterfall,  and  although  they  told  me 
of  many  places  where  the  water  rushed  with  great  violence, 
the}'  seemed  to  know  of  none  where  it  was  precipitous.  Upon 
one  point  they  were,  unfortunately,  all  agreed,  which  was 
that  there  was  no  path  up  the  river-side,  and  that  it  w'ould 
be  found  impossible  at  this  time  of  year,  when  the  stream 
was  flooded,  to  force  a  way  up.  However,  we  determined 
to  try.  We  thought  we  should  be  more  free  in  our  move¬ 
ments  if  we  were  unhampered  by  a  guide,  and  directed  only 
by  our  topographical  instincts. 

We  therefore  left  our  tents  standing,  as  a  sort  of  home  on 
which  to  retreat  in  case  of  need,  and  struck  across  the  small 
plain  upon  which  the  springs  are  situated,  to  a  ford,  which 
four  days  previously  had  been  impracticable,  but  which  we 


EXPLORATION  OF  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  YARMUK.  131 


were  assured  we  might  now  risk  with  safety.  The  stream 
was  here  a  hundred  yards  broad,  full  of  large  rocks,  and 
with  a  swift,  turbid  current  that  was  by  no  means  reassur¬ 
ing.  The  water  came  high  up  on  our  saddle-flaps,  but  we 
reached  the  other  bank  without  mishap,  and  found  ourselves 
skirting  a  dense  thicket  of  tropical  underwood,  above  which 
a  grove  of  at  least  three  hundred  date-trees  reared  .their 
tufted  crests.  It  was  a  spot  unlike  any  other  to  be  found  in 
Palestine,  for,  although  the  heat  in  the  valley  of  the  Jordan, 
owing  to  its  depression  below  the  sea,  is  as  great  as  this,  and 
at  its  southern  extremity  greater,  nowhere  throughout  its 
length  is  to  be  found  a  spot  where  the  vegetation  is  so  dense 
and  luxuriant.  Here  were  wild  orange,  lemon,  fig,  almond, 
and  mulberry  trees,  oleanders  growing  to  a  gigantic  size, 
besides  butm,  sidr,  carob,  and  other  trees  peculiar  to  the 
country,  and  thickets  of  cane  twenty  feet  high,  forming  a 
splendid  cover  for  the  wild  boars  with  which  we  were  as¬ 
sured  this  jungle  abounds. 

The  Arabs  come  here  at  certain  seasons  to  gather  the 
dates,  weave  mats  from  the  reeds,  and  harvest  the  crops  of 
the  slopes  behind,  which  were  now  all  waving  with  young 
grain.  During  that  time  they  live  in  mud  hovels,  partly  ex¬ 
cavated  in  the  ground,  which  were  now  deserted.  There 
was  only  one  inhabitant,  and  he  ran  a  small  mill,  pictu¬ 
resquely  situated  under  some  date-trees,  which  was  turned 
by  a  stream  of  hot  sulphur  water  issuing  from  a  copious 
spring,  with  a  temperature  of  112°.  The  Yarnmk,  which 
flows  beneath  a  cliff  of  black  basalt  three  hundred  feet  high, 
half  encircles  this  unique  spot,  and  I  regretted  that  I  had 
not  time  to  explore  it  thoroughly;  but  the  jungle  was  so  im¬ 
penetrable  that  it  was  impossible  to  make  any  impression 
upon  it  without  an  axe,  and  then  it  would  have  been  a  work 
of  time. 

We  now  followed  a  track  which  approached  the  river 
bank.  The  hills,  fortunately,  on  our  side  sloped  back  grad¬ 
ually.  Midway  up  the  sheer  face  of  the  cliff  opposite 
we  saw  here  and  there  caves,  which,  from  their  regular 
shape,  appear  at  one  time  to  have  been  inhabited,  but  if  so, 
the  only  approach  could  have  been  from  above,  by  baskets 
lowered  to  the  mouths,  similar  to  the  method  used  by  the 


132 


HAIFA. 


robbers  who  inhabited  the  Wady  Hamam,  behind  the  plain 
of  Gennesaretb,  in  days  of  old.  Now,  instead  of  robbers  in 
baskets,  we  saw  immense  eagles  sailing  in  front  of  the  cliff, 
in  the  crevices  of  which  they  had  placed  their  nests.  Cross¬ 
ing  a  spur  which  jutted  into  the  river  from  the  mountains 
on  our  right,  and  which  prevented  our  following  it  closely, 
we  obtained  a  splendid  view  of  its  course  for  some  miles. 
To  our  left  were  basalt  and  limestone  cliffs,  and  above  them 
steep,  sloping  grass  lands,  now  carpeted  with  wild  flowers. 
Above  them  again  were  more  crags  and  cliffs,  and  then  the 
rim  which  marked  the  edge  of  the  plateau,  fifteen  hun¬ 
dred  feet  above  us.  To  the  right  the  hills  sloped  back 
more  slowly,  cleft  here  and  there  by  wild,  rocky  valleys, 
while  their  summits  were  fringed  with  oak  forests.  Here 
and  there  the  river  foamed  between  precipices  on  both  sides, 
and  we  began  to  perceive  that  the  task  of  exploration  was 
by  no  means  easy.  But  it  was  perhaps  all  the  more  interest¬ 
ing.  We  made  our  horses  scramble  where  only  goats  had 
been  before,  now  along  the  base  of  the  cliff  over  huge  boul¬ 
ders,  now  half-way  up  its  precipitous  side,  when  prudence 
suggested  that  horse  and  rider  should  separate,  and  each  be 
responsible  for  his  own  life  and  limbs.  Tow  we  forced  our 
way  through  tangled  thickets  of  flowering  shrubs  that  clung 
to  the  rocky  sides  where  they  were  less  steep,  and  now,  ut¬ 
terly  baffled,  diverging  from  the  river  and  toiling  up  a  steep 
grassy  slope,  only  to  slip  and  scramble  down  it  again  on  the 
other  side  so  as  to  regain  the  margin  of  the  stream. 

Our  progress  was  necessarily  slow,  not  only  owing  to  the 
natural  obstacles  we  encountered,  but  to  the  fact  that  we 
were  mapping  the  country  as  we  advanced;  but  the  scenery 
by  which  we  were  surrounded  was  too  romantic  to  be  hur¬ 
ried  over,  and  too  interesting,  from  its  novelty,  not  to  be 
carefully  noted.  At  last  we  reached  a  point  where  there 
had  been  a  land-slide,  leaving  bare  one  precipice  a  thousand 
feet  high,  while  it  formed  another  above  the  stream,  which 
it  had  displaced.  Nothing  remained  for  it  but  to  attempt 
another  ford,  and  try  our  luck  on  the  opposite  bank.  This, 
to  the  amazement  of  some  Bedouins,  who  watched  us  from 
it  and  waved  us  back,  we  succeeded  in  accomplishing,  not 
without  a  narrow  escape  on  the  part  of  one  of  our  party  who, 


EXPLORATION  OF  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  YARMUK.  133 


boldly  leading  the  way,  got  entangled  among  the  rocks  and 
eddies.  W e  were  cordially  welcomed  by  an  Arab  sheik,  as  we 
scrambled  like  half-drowned  rats  up  the  bank.  He  invited  us 
to  his  tents,  which  were  pitched  a  few  hundred  yards  back 
from  the  stream,  on  a  small  plain.  Here  mats  were  spread  for 
us,  coffee  roasted,  pounded,  and  prepared,  and,  the  young  men 
gathering  around,  we  proceeded,  under  the  influence  of  an 
abundant  distribution  of  cigarettes  on  my  part,  to  exchange 
ideas.  They  told  us  they  belonged  to  a  village  two  and  a 
half  hours  distant,  and  were  therefore  not  nomads.  They 
came  hither  at  this  season  of  the  year  to  pasture  their  herds 
and  look  after  their  crops.  I  hardly  like  to  report  the  con¬ 
versation  of  these  poor  people  as  they  came  to  confide  their 
grievances  to  us,  without  our  in  any  way  inviting  their  con¬ 
fidence.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  recent  measure  of  the 
government  by  which  it  has  been  decided  to  substitute  for 
the  dime,  which  has  heretofore  been  the  share  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment  in  the  entire  produce  of  every  village,  an  assess¬ 
ment  based  on  the  highest  five  years’  average,  has  produced 
the  greatest  discontent  among  the  rural  population,  whose 
poverty  and  distress,  already  extreme,  owing  to  the  extor¬ 
tion  of  the  tax-gatherers  even  under  the  old  system,  and  the 
withdrawal  of  the  bone  and  sinew  of  the  country 
scription,  especially  during  the  recent  Russo-Turkish  war, 
will  thus  be  intensified.  In  fact,  these  poor  people  were 
driven  to  such  desperation  that  they  were  most  unreserved 
in  their  language,  and  although  they  are  the  most  long-suf¬ 
fering  and  much-enduring  of  races,  there  is  a  point  where 
the  crushed  worm  will  turn.  However  great  the  financial 
exigencies  of  the  empire  may  be,  they  would  better  be 
met  by  a  thorough  reorganization  and  reform  in  the  whole 
system  of  tax-collecting,  than  in  adding  to  the  burdens  of 
the  people,  which  are  already  greater  than  they  can  bear. 

Our  hosts  assured  us  that  we  should  find  any  further  at¬ 
tempt  to  ascend  the  river  impracticable,  and  that  there  was 
a  place  where  the  water  fell  for  a  considerable  height,  but 
we  could  only  reach  it  by  making  a  circuit,  which  would  take 
a  day.  However,  we  determined  to  judge  for  ourselves,  and 
succeeded  in  getting  about  a  mile  farther,  when  we  found  the 
river  shut  in  by  precipices  on  both  sides.  It  was  impossible 


by  con- 


134 


HAIFA . 


to  descend  to  it  from  tlie  brow  of  the  cliff  on  which  we  stood, 
much  less  to  ford  it  afterwards,  or  to  scramble  up  the  preci¬ 
pice  on  the  other  side.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  make 
an  ascent  of  at  least  fifteen  hundred  feet,  either  to  the  high 
plateau  of  Jaulan,  on  the  right,  or  to  recross  the  river  where 
we  had  already  forded  it,  and  scramble  up  the  steep,  wood¬ 
ed  hillsides  of  Ajlun  until  we  could  find  a  path  leading  in 
the  desired  direction.  This  latter  course  we  determined  to 
adopt;  so  we  returned  to  the  Arab  tents,  crossed  the  river 
more  successfully  than  before,  warned  by  our  previous  ex¬ 
perience,  and  braced  ourselves  for  a  twelve  -  hundred-feet 
climb  up  the  best  track  we  could  find,  under  the  guidance  of 
one  of  our  recent  Arab  acquaintances.  I  had  been  on  the 
lookout  all  through  the  day  for  ruins,  and  I  was  now  cheered 
by  the  intelligence  that  I  should  find  some  on  the  summit 
of  the  hill  we  were  climbing.  Such  proved  to  be  the  case. 
The  situation,  at  an  elevation  by  my  aneroid  of  about  eleven 
hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  would  indicate  that  in  old  time 
it  was  a  fortress.  It  was  supplied  with  water  by  cisterns, 
the  remains  of  which  still  exist,  some  of  them  demijohn¬ 
shaped,  and  one  about  ten  feet  square  and  twenty  feet  to 
the  bottom,  which,  however,  was  much  filled  up.  There 
were  many  piles  of  huge  blocks  of  drafted  stone,  but  I  did 
not  observe  any  columns  or  carving,  and  I  think  the  re¬ 
mains  date  from  a  period  anterior  to  the  Roman  occupation. 
The  modern  name  of  the  place  is  Tel  el-Hosn,  but  its  exist¬ 
ence  has  heretofore  been  unknown,  except  to  the  Arabs  of 
the  neighborhood,  and  its  discovery  was  some  compensation 
to  me  for  the  effort  I  had  made  to  reach  it. 


EXPLORATION  ON  THE  YARMUK. 


Haifa,  May  15. — From  the  ancient  fortress  of  El-Hosn 
we  crossed  a  spur  to  a  high  projecting  point,  from  which 
we  could  look  down  a  sheer  precipice  one  thousand  feet 
high,  which  had  been  formed  by  a  land-slip,  to  the  bed  of 
the  river.  Forcing  their  way  impetuously  through  a  gorge 
opposite,  the  tributary  waters  of  the  Rukkad  mingled  their 
clear  stream  with  the  turbid  Yarmuk,  after  a  rapid  course 
from  their  source  in  the  highlands  of  Jaulan,  from  which  ele¬ 
vated  plateau  they  are  precipitated  in  a  magnificent  water¬ 
fall  eight  hundred  feet  high.  All  this  scenery  is  as  yet  ab¬ 
solutely  unknown  and  unexplored,  this  fall  having  only  re¬ 
cently  been  discovered,  by  my  travelling  companion  on  this 
occasion.  I  regretted  being  unable  to  visit  it,  but  we  were 
limited  for  time,  and  although  it  was  only  hidden  from 
view  by  a  projecting  spur  of  the  valley,  so  broken  up  is  this 
country  by  precipitous  ravines  and  gorges,  that  it  would 
have  taken  us  a  day’s  hard  riding  to  reach  it. 

It  was  with  regret  that  we  found  ourselves  compelled 
to  leave  the  elevated  position  on  which  we  now  stood,  and 
which  commanded  an  extensive  view,  limited  in  the  extreme 
east  by  the  lofty  mountains  of  the  Jebel  Druze;  and,  steering 
our  way  by  compass,  struck  a  southeasterly  direction,  over 
a  park-like,  undulating  country,  covered  with  oak  forest, 
with  occasional  patches  of  cultivation.  This  part  of  the 
country  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  which  is  called  the  Kefe- 
rat,  is  thinly  inhabited,  the  villages  being  very  small, 
squalid,  and  far  apart,  but  it  is  a  country  all  waiting  to 
yield  of  its  abundance  to  some  future  race  who  may  turn 
its  magnificent  resources  to  good  account.  In  many  places 
the  trees  were  festooned  with  vines,  the  grapes  of  this  dis¬ 
trict  being  celebrated,  but  the  population  pay  little  heed  to 
their  cultivation,  for  it  is  impossible  to  protect  them  from 


136 


HAIFA, 


robbers.  The  Bedouins  consider  the  sedentary  inhabitants 
as  lawful  spoil,  and  raid  over  these  lands  at  will,  practically 
almost  unchecked  by  the  authorities,  whose  administrative 
hold  on  the  country  is  of  the  slenderest  description.  It  is, 
in  fact,  chiefly  exercised  at  those  times  when  it  is  necessary 
to  send  the  mounted  police  into  the  villages  to  collect  the 
taxes,  and  they  clear  up  all  that  the  Bedouins  may  have 
left,  so  that  these  poor  people  are  engaged  in  a  perpetual 
struggle  to  keep  body  and  soul  together,  and  although  they 
are  surrounded  by  a  fertile  country  which,  if  it  were  prop¬ 
erly  cultivated,  would  make  them  wealthy,  they  only  culti¬ 
vate  enough  for  their  barest  necessities,  and  have  not  the 
heart  to  attempt  to  accumulate  wealth  which  they  would 
not  be  permitted  to  keep.  Situated  at  an  elevation  of  about 
eighteen  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  these  high,  wooded, 
fertile  table-lands  form  a  district  which,  should  this  coun¬ 
try  ever  come  to  be  occupied  under  more  favourable  con¬ 
ditions  than  now  exist,  will  certainly  be  among  the  first  to 
attract  an  agricultural  population.  The  wild,  rocky  gorges 
by  ‘which  it  is  intersected  render  the  task  of  exploration, 
■without  a  guide,  one  attended  with  some  uncertainty.  We 
take  our  bearings  by  compass,  gallop  under  the  vine-trel- 
lised  trees,  over  green,  level  slopes,  or  along  inviting  glades, 
till  we  are  suddenly  brought  up  by  a  precipice  down  which 
it  is  impossible  to  scramble,  which  opens  unexpectedly  in  a 
gulf  at  our  feet.  The  spot  we  are  making  for  is  not  half  a 
mile  distant,  but  we  have  to  follow  the  edge  of  the  gorge  in 
the  opposite  direction.  Then  we  come  upon  another  at 
right  angles,  which  forces  us  to  double  back  still  farther;  so 
at  last  we  wind  round  the  head,  first  of  one  ravine  and  then 
of  another,  till  we  find  two  hours  have  elapsed  since  we 
were  driven  back  on  our  tracks;  the  half-mile  has  now  ex¬ 
tended  over  five  or  six,  the  sun  is  declining  with  a  rapidity 
which  seems  accelerated  because  the  daylight  has  become 
so  precious  to  us  that  we  cannot  bear  to  anticipate  the  pros¬ 
pect  of  its  vanishing.  At  last  we  reach  the  head  of  the 
valley  which  has  baffled  us  so  long,  and  are  compensated  by 
discovering  a  ruin.  Here  are  sarcophagi,  rock  tombs  and 
cisterns,  and  carved  fragments.  Fortunately  we  come  across 
a  peasant,  the  only  one  we  have  seen  since  leaving  the 


EXPLORATION  ON  THE  YARMUK. 


137 


river,  and  he  tells  us  that  its  name  is  Haleebna.  We  write 
it  down  and  take  its  bearings  as  well  as  we  can,  for  it  is  un¬ 
known  heretofore,  but  the  day  is  too  far  spent  for  us  to  lin¬ 
ger  for  minute  examination.  The  peasant  tells  us  that  the 
best  thing  we  can  do,  if  we  would  get  back  to  our  tents,  is 
to  go  down  the  valley  we  had  intended  to  cross.  We  fol¬ 
low  his  advice  and  have  no  reason  to  regret  it.  It  is  a  Via 
Mala  of  grandeur  and  beauty,  though  on  a  small  scale.  We 
pass  between  curved  limestone  cliffs,  the  fissures  in  which 
are  filled  with  underwood,  the  shrubs  cling  to  the  rocks, 
from  which  at  one  place  gushes  a  copious  stream  of  water, 
by  the  side  of  which  we  hurry  with  it  down  the  valley,  till 
we  get  back  to  the  Yarmuk  once  more,  and,  wearied  and  ex¬ 
hausted,  reach  our  tents  in  the  gathering  darkness.  Here 
we  find  a  picturesque-looking  Kurd  waiting  to  receive  us; 
he  is  an  old  soldier,  and  shows  us  the  scars  of  five  wounds — 
not  all,  however,  received  in  military  service,  but  for  the 
most  part  in  Arab  skirmishes.  He  is  the  agent  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment  in  these  parts,  and  also  of  the  native  capitalist  who 
is  the  practical  owner  of  the  land,  which  is  cultivated  by  an 
Arab  tribe  whose  tents  are  pitched  near  us;  they  are  heav¬ 
ily  indebted  to  the  capitalist  aforesaid,  who  allows  them 
enough  of  the  crops  to  keep  them  from  starving  and  takes 
all  the  rest  himself.  And  our  Kurdish  visitor  is  his  collec¬ 
tor  of  revenue.  He  seems  to  have  some  difficulty  in  pro¬ 
tecting  his  employer’s  interests,  and  tells  us  triumphantly 
that  only  a  few  nights  before  he  has  shot  an  Arab  whom  he 
caught  plundering.  He  says  that  during  the  bathing  season 
as  many  as  a  hundred  tents  may  be  seen  pitched  round  the 
sulphur  springs  of  Amatha,  and  that  their  fame  is  so  great 
that  they  are  visited  by  invalids  from  Aleppo  and  Damascus. 
The  fact,  however,  that  Tiberias,  which  is  five  hours  dis¬ 
tant,  is  the  nearest  place  in  which  supplies  of  any  sort  can 
be  procured,  and  that  the  only  accommodation  to  be  ob¬ 
tained  is  the  patient’s  own  tent,  must  operate  as  a  serious 
obstacle  to  the  use  of  these  springs,  about  whose  curative 
value,  however,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

Our  way  from  Amatha  lay  back  across  the  Jordan  valley, 
which  at  this  season  of  the  year  is  a  sheet  of  waving  grain, 
cultivated  by  a  branch  of  the  Beni  Sukkr  Arabs,  whose 


138 


HAIFA. 


large  encampment,  with  the  handsome  tent  of  the  sheik  in 
the  centre,  we  pass  without  stopping,  for  we  are  in  full  pur¬ 
suit  at  the  moment  of  five  gazelles,  which  scamper  across 
country,  giving  us  a  good  run,  in  which  we  should  have  cer¬ 
tainly  overtaken  them  had  we  not  been  checked  by  a  ravine. 
We  cross  the  Yarmuk  at  a  point  near  its  junction  with  the 
Jordan,  and  where  it  carries  a  volume  of  water  certainly 
equal  to  that  stream.  The  Jordan  here  falls  in  a  fine  rapid 
of  about  thirty  feet  in  a  distance  of  less  than  a  hundred 
yards,  and  would  furnish  splendid  water-power  for  mills  in 
a  part  of  the  country  which  is  much  in  want  of  them.  The 
ancient  Jisr  el-Medjamieh  spans  the  stream  at  this  point, 
guarded  by  a  government  toll-house.  Crossing  it,  we  deter¬ 
mined  to  try  a  short-cut  up  the  little-known  Wady  Bireh, 
which  is  watered  by  a  clear,  purling  brook,  which,  if  it  were 
utilized,  would  make  this  valley  one  of  the  most  fertile  and 
attractive  in  this  part  of  the  country.  After  following  its 
winding  course  for  some  miles,  we  found  it  finally  narrow¬ 
ing  into  a  crooked  gorge,  the  sides  of  which  approach  so 
closely  as  scarcely  to  admit  the  passage  of  a  loaded  camel 
between  the  overhanging  rocks.  Indeed,  when  w^e  after¬ 
wards  described  our  route  to  the  natives  they  said  it  was 
never  used  by  them.  However,  it  gave  us  an  opportunity 
of  seeing  some  most  romantic  scenery,  and  by  shortening 
the  way  enabled  us  to  reach  Nazareth,  jaded  and  worn  out, 
it  is  true,  the  same  night. 


A  DRUSE  RELIGIOUS  FESTIVAL. 


Haifa,  May  27. — Travellers  who  have  gone  from  Naza¬ 
reth  to  Tiberias  must  be  familiar  with  the  singular  outline 
of  a  mountain  which  they  perceive  to  the  left  of  the  road, 
with  its  two  rocky  crests  separated  from  each  other  by 
a  hog’s  back  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long,  and  called  the 
Horns  of  Hattin.  The  summit  of  the  higher  peak,  one  thou¬ 
sand  feet  above  the  sea,  and  about  three  hundred  feet  above 
the  plain  across  which  they  are  riding,  forms  a  conspicuous 
object  in  a  landscape  which,  at  this  point,  is  one  of  singular 
interest  and  beauty.  Rising  like  a  gigantic  natural  pulpit, 
tradition  has  since  declared  it  to  be  the  Mount  of  the  Beati¬ 
tudes,  and  asserts  that  it  was  from  this  picturesque  eleva¬ 
tion  that  Christ  delivered  that  sermon  which  has  exercised 
so  vast  an  influence  on  mankind  ever  since. 

Whether  this  be  so  or  not,  it  is  certain  that  the  plain  on 
which  the  audience  was  supposed  to  have  gathered  which 
listened  to  it,  was  the  scene,  about  eleven  hundred  and  fifty- 
seven  years  afterwards,  of  the  most  memorable  conflict  in 
which  the  Crusaders  ever  engaged,  for  it  was  the  one  which 
lost  them  Palestine,  and  which  resulted  in  the  triumph  of 
Saladin,  the  Saracen,  and  the  slaughter  or  capture  of  the 
most  powerful  and  celebrated  of  the  Crusading  chiefs.  At 
the  extremity  of  the  plain,  and  immediately  beneath  one  of 
the  horns  of  the  mountain,  there  is  a  precipitous  gorge, 
down  which  some  of  the  hardly  pressed  Crusaders  vainly 
attempted  flight,  the  horses  and  their  riders,  heavily  pano¬ 
plied  with  armour,  only  escaping  the  spear  of  the  Arab  to 
meet  an  even  more  terrible  fate,  as  they  hurled  themselves 
headlong  down  the  rocky  precipice.  As,  dismounting  from 
my  active  steed,  I  allowed  him  to  pick  his  own  way  down 
this  dangerous  defile,  I  looked  with  interest  at  the  scene 
of  the  disaster,  and  listened  to  the  story  of  my  guide,  who 


140 


HAIFA. 


narrated  how,  only  twenty  years  ago,  a  fight  had  taken 
place  here  between  a  celebrated  Bedouin  chief  and  a  Kurd¬ 
ish  tribe,  in  wdiich  the  latter  were  signally  defeated  on  the 
old  Crusading  battle-ground,  and,  seeking  safety,  like  the 
Christian  warriors,  in  the  direction  of  this  treacherous  gorge, 
left  sixty  dead  men  and  horses  at  the  bottom. 

These  traditions  and  associations  served  to  enhance  the 
novelty  and  picturesqueness  of  the  view  before  me  as  I  en¬ 
tered  the  gorge,  for  it  was  now  the  scene  of  a  great  gather¬ 
ing  of  the  sheiks  and  chiefs  of  the  Druse  nation,  who  come 
here  annually  on  a  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  one  of  their 
most  celebrated  saints,  at  which  I  was  fortunate  enough  to 
be  allowed  to  assist,  a  privilege  which,  so  far  as  I  am  aware, 
had  not  before  been  granted  to  a  foreigner.  The  building 
which  forms  this  sacred  resort  has  been  erected  by  the 
Druses  over  the  tomb  of  a  certain  holy  man  called  Schaib, 
but  exactly  who  Schaib  was  my  utmost  endeavours  failed  to 
discover.  The  Moslems  say  that  he  is  Jethro,  the  father-in- 
law  of  Moses;  but  when  I  asked  the  Druses  whether  Moses 
had  married  Schaib’s  daughter,  they  denied  it.  Then  a  Jew 
of  the  country,  familiar  with  the  Druses,  suggested  that 
Schaib  was  Balaam,  but  they  refused  altogether  to  admit 
that  an  ass  had  ever  spoken  to  their  holy  man.  lie  had 
crossed  the  Red  Sea  with  Moses,  they  said,  and  after  Moses’ 
death  had  been  ordered  by  God  to  bury  him,  and  had  done 
so,  and  had  fought  against  a  mighty  king  and  prevailed 
against  him,  and  had  himself  been  buried  here,  and  he  was 
the  Father  of  all  Prophets  and  the  elect  of  God,  and  there 
were  none  greater  or  more  sacred  than  he.  I  thought  pos¬ 
sibly  he  might  be  Joshua,  but  him  they  knew  by  his  own 
name,  so  I  have  given  up  the  personality  of  Schaib  as  an  in¬ 
soluble  mystery.  He  is  one  of  those  Druse  characters  whom 
their  tradition  has  interwoven  with  Biblical  history,  but  the 
tomb  which  they  thus  honour  is  undoubtedly  considered  by 
Moslems  to  be  the  tomb  of  Jethro,  who  is  known  among 
them  as  Schaib;  and  the  Rabbi  Bar  Simeon,  writing  in 
1210  a.d.,  mentions  the  tomb  of  Jethro  as  being  at  Hattin. 
Considering  that  Jethro  lived  in  Midian,  on  the  shores  of 
the  Red  Sea,  it  seems  rather  unlikely  that  he  should  be  bur¬ 
ied  here.  However,  that  is  a  detail.  The  fact  remains  that 


A  DRUSE  RELIGIOUS  FESTIVAL. 


141 


the  spot  is  one  of  great  sanctity,  but  is  infinitely  more  ven¬ 
erated  by  the  Druses  than  by  the  Moslems.  Indeed,  I  met 
a  Moslem  who  laughed  at  the  Druses’  superstitions  in  re¬ 
gard  to  it,  and  who  was  as  much  surprised  and  puzzled  as  I 
was  when  he  heard  them  deny  that  Moses  was  the  son-in- 
law  of  the  buried  saint. 

The  building  which  the  Druses  have  erected  over  the  old, 
dilapidated  Moslem  shrine,  which  still  stands  here,  has  al¬ 
ready  cost  more  than  $5000,  all  subscribed  by  the  Druses 
among  themselves,  and  it  is  not  yet  completed.  It  consists 
of  a  courtyard,  one  side  of  which  is  formed  by  the  solid 
rock,  while  the  other  contains  chambers.  The  roof  forms  a 
terrace,  and  above  it,  also  partly  faced  by  rock,  is  a  large 
upper  chamber  surmounted  by  a  dome.  The  scene  as  we 
approached  was  very  striking.  The  Druse  sheiks,  desirous 
of  doing  honour  to  their  guest,  formed  in  two  lines  to  re¬ 
ceive  me,  while  guns  were  fired  off  and  songs  of  welcome 
were  sung:.  The  white  building:,  with  its  terraces  crowded 
by  men  and  women  in  bright -coloured  garments,  harmo¬ 
nized  well  with  the  romantic  character  of  the  scenery,  and 
formed  a  picture  calculated  to  impress  the  imagination. 

I  was  ushered  by  my  hosts  into  an  anteroom,  after  ex¬ 
changing  cordial  greetings  with  those  I  knew,  and  being  in¬ 
troduced  to  those  who  were  still  strangers  to  me;  and  then 
we  all  squatted  on  carpets,  thus  occupying  all  the  four  sides 
of  the  room,  which  assumed  the  appearance  of  a  sort  of 
council-chamber.  As,  with  the  exception  of  the  Japanese, 
the  Druses  are  the  politest  and  most  courteous  people  I 
have  ever  met,  a  great  part  of  our  time  is  taken  up  in  salu¬ 
tations  and  compliments.  First  we  press  our  hands  to  our 
hearts  and  lips  and  foreheads,  with  great  effusion.  No  soon¬ 
er  are  we  seated  than  we  repeat  this  process  as  if  we  had 
not  done  it  just  before.  Then,  in  flowery  language,  we  ask 
each  other  repeatedly  after  our  respective  healths,  and  are 
profuse  in  our  thanks  to  God  that  we  are  well,  that  they 
are  well,  that  our  families  are  well,  and  that  we  are  permit¬ 
ted  to  enjoy  the  great  privilege  of  meeting  one  another. 
Then  coffee  is  brought  in,  and  after  drinking  it  we  go 
through  the  same  process  of  saluting  each  other  all  around. 
Then  I  request  permission  to  light  a  cigarette,  which  is 


142 


HAIFA. 


necessary,  as  the  Druses  never  indulge  in  tobacco;  indeed, 
the  more  rigid  eschew  coffee. 

As  I  look  around  at  the  twenty  or  thirty  sheiks,  solemnly 
seated  with  their  backs  to  the  wall,  I  am  much  struck  with 
the  dignity  of  their  bearing,  the  intelligence  of  their  counte¬ 
nances,  and  their  superior  physique  generally.  As  a  rule, 
there  is  a  religious  and  a  secular  sheik  to  each  village,  so 
that  about  half  my  entertainers  exercise  spiritual  functions, 
and  half  temporal.  There  was  nothing,  however,  in  their 
dress  to  distinguish  them.  They  all  wore  white  turbans, 
black  or  striped  abbas ,  or  wide-sleeved  cloaks  reaching  to 
the  knee,  beneath  which  was  the  usual  flowing  garment  of 
the  Oriental,  and  their  feet  were  bare.  Many  of  the  Druses, 
both  men  and  women,  have  brown  hair  and  blue  eyes,  and 
complexions  as  light  as  our  own,  and  some  of  both  sexes  are 
singularly  handsome. 

As  all  the  sheiks  had  not  yet  assembled,  we  had  not  been 
long  in  conclave — indeed,  had  hardly  exhausted  our  stock  of 
compliments — before  the  singing  of  men  ahd  the  firing  of 
guns  announced  a  distinguished  arrival.  Then  we  all  went 
out  to  meet  him,  and  I  was  interested  in  watching  the  meth¬ 
od  of  greeting.  I  soon  perceived  that  the  forms  of  etiquette 
are  most  rigidly  adhered  to  among  them.  When  two  of 
equal  rank  meet  they  clasp  hands,  and  there  appears  a  slight 
struggle  —  as  they  both  bow  their  heads  and  lift  their 
clasped  hands  towards  their  lips — as  to  who  shall  kiss  the 
back  of  the  other’s  hand  first.  This  involves  rather  a  curi¬ 
ous  twisting  movement  of  the  hands  and  heads,  which  pro¬ 
duces  a  somewhat  comical  effect.  Let  any  of  my  readers 
make  the  experiment,  and,  grasping  each  other’s  hands,  try 
and  kiss  the  respective  backs  of  each  without  unclasping 
them,  and  the  effort  as  to  which  shall  succeed  first  makes 
quite  a  little  game.  My  servant,  who  is  a  Moslem  from 
Egypt,  declared  that  they  each  kissed  their  own  hands,  and 
the  argument  waxed  so  hot  between  us  that  we  had  to  refer 
the  matter  to  a  Druse  to  know  which  was  right,  so  difficult 
was  it  to  perceive  exactly  what  really  happened.  If  one 
felt  himself  inferior  in  rank  to  the  other,  he  always  succeed¬ 
ed  in  kissing  the  other’s  hand  first,  and  snatching  his  own 
away  before  the  other  had  time  to  kiss  it.  But  if  the  dif- 


A  DRUSE  RELIGIOUS  FESTIVAL. 


143 


ference  in  rank  was  still  more  marked,  the  superior  made 
no  pretence  of  wanting  to  kiss  the  inferior’s  hand  after  his 
own  had  been  kissed. 

Next  came  a  great  struggle  as  to  who  should  take  the 
lowest  place.  The  place  of  honour  was  a  particular  corner, 
which,  had  I  been  better  versed  in  their  etiquette,  I  should 
have  insisted  on  declining;  but  I  innocently  accepted  it,  and 
then  the  invariable  struggle  came  as  to  who  should  be  forced 
to  sit  next  to  me.  I  observed  that  in  most  instances  the  re¬ 
fusals  were  of  that  formal  kind  which  young  ladies  indulge 
in  when  they  have  made  up  their  minds  to  sing,  but  decline 
to  do  so  until  after  they  have  been  sufficiently  pressed.  I 
suppose  there  were  envyings,  jealousies,  pride,  and  other 
base  passions  among  my  hosts  as  among  other  men,  but  if 
so  they  certainly  concealed  their  failings  with  marvellous 
skill.  One  could  not  but  be  struck  with  the  air  of  genuine 
harmony  and  affectionate  cordiality  which  seemed  to  pre¬ 
vail  among  them. 

The  respect  they  showed  to  the  head  sheik  of  all,  and  the 
warm  terms  in  which  they  spoke  of  him  to  me  in  private, 
could  not  but  have  been  sincere,  and,  indeed,  he  seemed  to 
deserve  it.  Though  only  a  young  man  of  about  thirty-five, 
he  inherited  his  honours,  coming  as  he  did  of  one  of  the 
most  honourable  Druse  families;  yet  his  distinguishing 
characteristic  was  a  marked  humility  and  consideration  for 
others.  Ilis  wife  was  certainly  the  most  charming  and  lady¬ 
like  person  I  have  yet  seen  among  Druse  women.  She  was 
not  more  than  three  or  four  and  twenty,  with  a  fair  com¬ 
plexion,  magnificent  eyes,  and  an  elegant  figure,  a  grace 
natural  to  her  characterizing  all  her  movements.  Indeed, 
had  she  been  dressed  in  the  latest  Parisian  fashion,  she 
would  have  been  a  strikingly  attractive  person  in  any  society, 
nor  would  it  have  been  possible  by  her  features  or  complex¬ 
ion  to  distinguish  her  from  any  pretty  American  woman. 
As  it  was,  her  dress  was  exceedingly  becoming.  On  her 
head  was  a  long  white  veil;  a  loose,  tunic-shaped  jacket, 
with  full  sleeves,  covered  an  embroidered  sort  of  chemisette, 
and  her  short,  flowing  skirts  partially  concealed  full  trousers, 
tight  around  the  ankle.  On  her  wrists  were  a  pair  of  heavy 
gold  bracelets,  and  she  was  the  only  woman  of  the  party 


144 


HAIFA . 


who  indulged  in  the  luxury  of  shoes  and  stockings.  The 
shoes,  however,  were  always  slipped  off  before  entering  a 
room. 

The  Druse  women  of  Galilee  do  not,  like  those  of  the 
Lebanon,  cover  their  faces;  and,  indeed,  they  are  allowed 
a  freedom  which  contrasts  strongly  with  the  position  of 
their  Moslem  sisters.  This  wife  of  the  head  sheik  enjoyed 
a  privilege  denied  to  any  of  the  other  women  who  had  ac¬ 
companied  their  lords  to  the  shrine,  for  she  frequently  sat 
in  the  men’s  council,  taking  part  in  the  conversation,  though 
modestly,  and  with  great  reserve.  In  talking  to  me,  which 
she  did  freety,  I  found  that  she  was  bright  and  intelligent, 
and  full  of  inquiries  as  to  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
females  of  civilization,  in  regard  to  whom  she  had  an  intense 
curiosity.  I  do  not  know,  however,  whether,  if  it  had  been 
fully  gratified,  it  would  have  tended  very  much  to  her  moral 
and  intellectual  improvement.  She  had  brought  her  baby 
with  her,  and  was  generally  surrounded  by  some  of  the 
more  prominent  of  the  other  ladies,  who,  however,  treated 
her  with  a  marked  deference.  I  watched  her  mode  of  greet¬ 
ing  the  different  ladies  as  they  arrived,  with  even  more  in¬ 
terest  than  I  had  that  of  the  men.  We  read  in  the  Bible  of 
people  falling  upon  each  other’s  necks;  this  was  exactly 
what  the  Druse  women  did,  and  very  prettily  and  gracefully 
they  did  it,  while  they  recognized  the  men  by  a  distant, 
modest,  and  deferential  salutation. 


THE  GREAT  FESTIVAL  OF  THE  DRUSES. 


Haifa,  May  30. — Towards  evening  of  the  day  on  which 
I  arrived  at  the  great  Druse  shrine  of  Neby  Schaib,  near 
Hattin,  most  of  the  sheiks  who  were  expected  had  arrived, 
with  their  retinues.  It  might  have  been  a  feudal  gathering 
of  olden  time;  the  noisy  welcome  of  the  chiefs,  the  clans¬ 
men  singing  war-songs  and  firing  guns,  the  women  follow¬ 
ing  on  donkeys,  all  combined  to  make  a  scene  which  carried 
one  back  to  the  Middle  Ages,  and  I  never  wearied  looking 
at  it. 

My  tent  was  pitched  on  the  lowest  terrace  of  the  sacred 
building,  for  it  is  not  allowed  to  the  unbeliever  to  pass  the 
night  within  those  holy  precincts.  Indeed,  it  was  an  un¬ 
precedented  privilege  to  be  permitted  even  to  camp  on  the 
terrace,  where  there  was  only  just  room  for  my  tent,  nor 
should  I  have  been  allowed  to  edge  in  so  close  to  the  mys¬ 
teries  of  Druse  worship  had  there  been  five  square  yards 
of  level  ground  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  But  the  pre¬ 
cipitous  rocks  frowned  above  us  all  around,  and  the  com¬ 
paratively  open  space  below  was  crowded  with  camels, 
horses,  and  donkeys,  compelled  to  chum  together,  whether 
they  liked  it  or  not,  and  where  the  incessant  din  added  to 
the  general  uproar  of  the  place.  The  constant  and  stento¬ 
rian  braying  of  donkeys,  varied  occasionally  by  a  horse 
fight,  mingled  with  the  barking  of  dogs,  the  shrill  scream 
of  welcome  or  ululation  of  women,  the  loud  singing  and 
clapping  of  hands  of  the  dancing  circles,  and  the  firing  of 
guns,  all  augured  badly  for  a  night’s  rest. 

However,  there  was  no  thought  of  going  to  bed  yet;  great 
piles  of  rice  on  which  whole  sheep  had  been  skilfully  dis¬ 
sected  were  now  borne  in  on  round  platters,  each  carried  by 
two  men.  There  must  have  been  from  three  to  four  hun¬ 
dred  people  now  collected  at  the  shrine,  and  the  feeding  of 

10 


146 


HAIFA . 


such  a  multitude  was  no  joke.  Of  these  nearly  half  were 
women,  all  in  gala  dress,  the  favourite  colours  being  blue, 
green,  and  red.  I  don’t  know  that  I  ever  remember  in  the 
same  number  to  have  seen  a  larger  proportion  of  pretty 
women. 

When  I  went  up-stairs  to  the  large  vault  which  contains 
the  tomb  of  the  prophet  I  came  upon  them  unexpectedly, 
all  seated  on  the  floor  around  the  circular  mats  of  parti¬ 
coloured  straw  which  they  use  as  tablecloths.  The  room, 
which  was  seventy  feet  long  by  forty  wide,  was  crowded 
with  this  laughing,  chattering,  feeding,  feminine  multitude, 
with  their  glorious  eyes,  white,  regular  teeth,  bewitching 
smiles,  and  delicate  fingers  plunged  up  to  the  knuckles  into 
huge  piles  of  greasy  rice.  Their  invitation  that  I  should 
come  and  take  pot-luck  with  them  produced  a  mixed  senti¬ 
ment  in  my  breast.  However,  it  was  only  said  as  a  joke, 
for  even  had  I  desired  I  should  not  have  been  allowed  to 
accept  it.  The  entertainment  was  exclusively  feminine,  and 
I  was  surprised  at  so  little  reverence  being  shown  to  the 
venerated  shrine  by  the  close  proximity  of  all  this  fes¬ 
tivity. 

Taking  off  our  shoes  and  picking  our  way  between  these 
festive  groups,  we  reached,  at  the  other  end  of  the  hall,  the 
tomb  of  the  prophet,  enclosed  in  a  wooden  screen  hung 
with  red  cloth,  while  over  the  tomb  itself  was  spread  a  sort 
of  green  silk  pall,  embroidered  with  gold  stars.  Some  of 
the  Druse  sheiks  who  accompanied  me  reverently  pressed 
their  lips  to  this.  They  then  pointed  out  a  square  block  of 
limestone,  in  the  centre  of  which  was  a  piece  of  alabaster 
containing  the  imprint  of  a  human  foot  of  natural  size. 
The  toes  are  defined  with  more  clearness  than  is  usual  in 
sacred  footprints  of  this  nature,  and  the  Druses  stooped  and 
kissed  the  impression,  assuring  me  that,  if  I  would  do  so,  I 
should  feel  that  the  rock  exuded  moisture,  and  that  its  pe¬ 
culiarity  was  that  it  was  never  dry.  I  was  constrained  out 
of  politeness  to  appear  to  accede  to  their  wishes,  though  I 
refrained  from  testing  the  condition  of  the  stone  with  my 
lips,  as  I  felt  suspicious,  considering  how  many  lips  had  pre¬ 
ceded  mine,  that  any  little  dampness  I  might  discover  might 
be  easily  accounted  for  otherwise  than  supernaturally. 


THE  GREAT  FESTIVAL  OF  THE  DRUSES. 


147 


The  question  of  footprints  in  the  rock  suggests  some  in¬ 
teresting  considerations.  There  are  one  or  two  others  in 
different  parts  of  Palestine,  as  in  the  mosque  at  Hebron, 
built  over  the  Cave  of  Macpelah,  and  as  they  are  artificial, 
it  is  probable  that  they  are  coronation  stones.  We  know 
by  tradition  that  in  ancient  times  a  custom  of  this  sort  ex¬ 
isted  in  the  British  Isles,  where  footprints  in  rock  exist,  and 
there  are  Scriptural  allusions  which  give  colour  to  a  similar 
hypothesis  in  Palestine.  The  pillar  alluded  to  in  the  crown¬ 
ing  of  kings  was  probably  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a 
coronation  stone;  and  the  habit  which  existed  in  some 
countries  of  making  the  king  stand  with  his  foot  in  the  im¬ 
pression  of  a  print  in  the  stone,  as  a  sign  that  he  would 
walk  in  the  footsteps  of  his  predecessor,  may  account  for 
their  occurrence  in  Palestine.  Thus  we  read  that  Abime- 
lech  “was  made  king  by  the  oak  of  the  pillar  that  was  in 
Shechem;”  when  Joash  was  anointed  king  by  Jehoida, 
“he  stood  by  the  pillar  as  the  manner  was,”  and  the  same 
king  “  stood  by  a  pillar  to  make  a  covenant,  and  all  the  peo¬ 
ple  stood  to  the  covenant.”  The  place  of  the  footprint  at 
Neby  Schaib,  in  its  elevated  position  above  the  copious  foun¬ 
tain  wdiich  gushes  from  the  base  of  the  opposite  cliff,  and 
the  remarkable  cropping  up  of  the  alabaster  through  the 
rock,  rendered  it  just  such  a  spot  as  would  be  likely  to  be 
chosen  for  such  a  purpose,  and  I  think  we  may  fairly  hazard 
the  conjecture  that  the  footprint  at  the  Neby  Schaib  marks 
the  coronation  stone  of  the  rulers  in  this  part  of  the  coun¬ 
try  in  early  Jewish,  or  perhaps  even  more  ancient,  times. 
It  is  far  otherwise  with  the  footprint  of  Buddha  on  Adam’s 
Peak  in  Ceylon,  and  with  that  of  Christ  on  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  both  of  which  I  have  seen,  and  both  of  which  are 
natural,  and  bear  only  a  fancied  resemblance  to  the  human 
foot,  that  of  Buddha  being  a  depression  in  the  rock  about 
five  feet  long.  In  the  case  of  the  print  under  consideration, 
there  was  a  split  in  the  rock  across  the  centre,  which  the 
Druses  accounted  for  by  saying  that  when  the  prophet 
stepped  here  he  split  the  rock. 

Meanwhile  the  women,  having  finished  their  repast,  now 
prepared  for  a  dance  on  the  terrace.  The  music  consisted 
of  singing,  with  a  hand-clapping  accompaniment,  executed 


148 


HAIFA. 


principally  by  the  spectators,  while  the  dancers  formed  in 
a  circle,  holding  each  other  by  the  waistband,  and  rhyth¬ 
mically  swaying  to  and  fro,  as  from  time  to  time  they 
changed  the  character  and  the  measure  of  their  step.  All 
their  movements  were  decorous,  if  not  all  actually  graceful. 
Sometimes  one  Avould  separate  herself  from  the  ring,  and, 
advancing  to  the  centre,  perform  a  pas  seul ,  while  the  others 
danced  around  her,  she  the  w’hile  flinging  her  hands  aloft, 
waving  in  each  a  light  muslin  veil,  and  making  it  float  above 
her  head,  while  she  kept  time  with  her  feet.  But  among 
the  Druses,  as  among  most  Orientals,  the  hands  play  as 
prominent  a  part  in  their  terpsicliorean  exercises  as  their 
feet.  The  eminently  good  looks  of  the  dancers  were  set  off 
by  their  becoming  costumes.  These  consisted  of  outer 
cloaks  of  a  rich  colour,  linen  or  woollen,  open  all  down  the 
front  so  as  to  display  the  whole  underdress,  with  light  sleeves 
cut  above  the  elbow,  the  whole  trimmed  either  with  wide 
bands  of  reddish  satin  or  with  a  rich  cross-stitch  embroidery 
of  silk.  The  unsightliness  of  the  baggy  trousers  of  dark 
blue  is  lost  under  the  long,  semi-transparent  chemise,  which 
falls  over  them  as  a  white  tunic,  generally  striped  with 
thicker  white,  and  tastefully  embroidered  wuth  silk  around 
the  neck.  The  white  sleeves  of  the  chemise,  widely  point¬ 
ed,  and  which  flow  about  the  forearm  after  escaping  from 
the  short  cloak  sleeve,  form  a  simple  but  very  graceful 
feature  of  this  costume,  whether  they  float  freely  or  arc 
twisted,  for  convenience  in  work,  about  the  elbow.  Scarfs 
of  various  bright  colours  are  wound  below  the  waist,  and 
the  cloak  is  usually  caught  together  below  the  bosom  by 
a  cord  or  button,  giving  that  double  girdle  often  present¬ 
ed  in  ancient  classical  costume.  The  simple  long,  white 
cloth,  with  the  centre  of  one  edge  drawn  low  upon  the 
forehead,  its  two  ends  hanging  down  the  back  almost  to 
the  heels,  bound  fast  by  a  wide  fillet  of  brilliant  colour 
tied  around  the  head,  completes  very  attractively,  with  its 
ancient  Egyptian  appearance,  this  simple  but  highly  char¬ 
acteristic  dress,  which  is  enhanced  by  necklaces  and  ban¬ 
gles,  according  to  the  rank  and  position  of  the  wearer. 

Our  attention  was  now  distracted  by  some  rival  perform¬ 
ances  of  the  male  part  of  the  community  in  the  courtyard 


THE  GREAT  FESTIVAL  OF  THE  DRUSES. 


149 


below.  Here  the  singing  and  clapping  of  hands  were  loud¬ 
er  and  more  vehement,  and  time  was  given  by  one  gentle¬ 
man  who  played  a  pipe  and  another  who  was  a  sort  of  band¬ 
master,  and  directed  the  changes  of  time  and  step.  Here 
the  central  figure  who  danced  in  the  circle,  instead  of  wav¬ 
ing  veils  or  handkerchiefs,  flourished  a  sword  with  great 
grace  and  dexterity,  slashing  it  about  in  excellent  time  to 
the  music,  and  within  an  inch  sometimes  of  the  noses,  some¬ 
times  of  the  legs,  of  the  performers.  The  dancers  worked 
themselves  up  at  last  to  a  high  pitch  of  excitement  and  per¬ 
spiration,  new  ones  perpetually  dashing  into  the  ring  and 
taking  the  places  of  those  who  were  exhausted. 

At  last  the  gayeties  were  put  an  end  to  by  the  sheiks, 
who  took  no  part  in  them  themselves,  but  looked  on  with 
solemn  dignity.  The  “  okal,”  or  initiated  in  the  holy  mys¬ 
teries,  despise  all  such  frivolities,  which  are  reserved  for 
women  and  the  uninitiated.  Most  of  these  had  been  sitting 
in  a  circle  in  a  quiet  part  of  the  terrace  by  themselves,  dis¬ 
cussing  either  religion  or  the  political  questions  affecting 
the  interests  of  their  nation,  most  probably  the  latter;  but 
the  hour  had  now  arrived  when  the  serious  business  of  the 
night  was  to  begin  and  festivity  was  to  cease.  The  uproar 
died  away,  the  elders  wished  us  good  -  night,  *!and  silently 
trooped  up  the  stone  stairs  to  the  great  hall,  whence  issued 
the  younger  part  of  the  female  community,  and  I  retired  to 
the  door  of  my  tent  to  sit  in  the  bright  moonlight  and  con¬ 
template  the  strange  surroundings  of  my  night  quarters. 

Soon  there  broke  upon  the  stillness  of  the  night  the  meas¬ 
ured  cadence  of  a  sacred  chant.  Now  it  swelled,  as  numer¬ 
ous  voices,  male  and  female,  took  up  the  chorus;  now  it 
died  away  to  a  single  voice.  Never  before,  probably,  had 
stranger  been  able  to  listen  so  closely  to  the  prayers  and  in¬ 
vocations  which  characterize  the  mysterious  and  occult 
worship  of  the  Druses.  One  thing  surprised  me,  which  I 
think  is  not  generally  known,  and  this  is  that  women  un¬ 
doubtedly  take  part  in  some  of  their  forms  of  worship,  not, 
however,  in  all,  for  on  the  following  night  they  were  ex¬ 
cluded,  and  the  service  was  conducted  by  males  alone.  At 
last  I  went  to  bed,  but  not  to  sleep;  the  noises  of  the  ani¬ 
mals,  to  which  I  was  in  close  proximity,  for  a  long  time  ban- 


150 


HAIFA. 


ished  repose,  and  when  at  last  it  came  fitfully,  I  beard  ever 
and  anon  the  rhythm  of  the  sacred  chant.  Throughout  two 
entire  nights,  to  my  certain  knowledge,  did  these  Druses 
pray  and  sing,  though,  as  I  fell  asleep  on  each  occasion 
towards  morning,  I  cannot  precisely  say  at  what  hour  their 
service  was  concluded. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  while  these  gatherings  are 
essentially  religious  in  their  character,  they  are  largely  used 
for  political  purposes.  In  this  respect  a  wonderful  organi¬ 
zation  exists  among  the  Druses.  Although  the  nation  may 
be  said  to  be  divided  into  three  sections,  of  which  one — by 
far  the  largest — occupies  the  mountains  of  the  Hauran, 
known  as  the  Jebel  Druse,  another  the  mountains  of  the 
Lebanon,  and  the  third  and  smallest  the  hills  of  northern 
Galilee,  they  keep  up  a  close  contact  with  each  other,  and 
meetings  such  as  these  afford  opportunities  for  them  to  hold 
counsel  in  regard  to  the  political  fortunes  and  condition  of 
the  nation.  The  Druses  of  the  Jebel  Druse,  who  form  two 
thirds  of  the  nation,  have  only'  this  year  made  peace  with 
the  Turkish  government,  with  whom  they  were  at  war  last 
year.  The  impracticable  nature  of  the  country,  combined 
with  their  own  bravery,  enables  them  to  maintain  a  sort  of 
quasi  independence.  They  are  free  from  the  conscription, 
have  a  governor,  or  Caimakam,  chosen  from  among  them¬ 
selves,  and  their  taxes  are  little  more  than  nominal.  The 
Druses  of  the  Lebanon  come  under  the  special  statute  re¬ 
lating  to  the  government  of  that  province,  and  as  this  is 
subject  to  the  supervision  of  the  six  European  treaty  pow¬ 
ers,  their  position  is  secured,  and  they  have  no  cause  of 
grievance,  though  they  are  in  close  contact  with  their  neigh¬ 
bours,  the  Maronites,  with  whom  they  live  on  terms  of  con¬ 
siderable  tension.  The  Druses  of  Galilee  differ  in  position 
from  the  other  two  sections  of  the  nation,  in  that  they  en¬ 
joy  no  privileges  of  any  kind,  but  are,  on  the  contrary,  less 
fortunately  placed  in  their  relations  to  the  government  than 
either  Moslems  or  Christians,  the  former  being  naturally,  to 
a  certain  extent,  favored  by  their  government,  and  the  lat¬ 
ter  being  always  able,  in  case  of  a  grievance,  to  appeal  to 
some  Christian  European  power.  These  Druses  are,  how¬ 
ever,  absolutely  without  protection  of  any  kind,  and  have 


THE  GREAT  FESTIVAL  OF  THE  DRUSES. 


151 


many  grievances  unredressed,  and  many  acts  of  hostility  on 
the  part  of  the  peasantry  of  other  religions,  among  whom 
they  live,  to  struggle  against.  The  only  consolation  they 
enjoy  is  the  support  and  comfort  they  derive  from  the  close 
tribal  family  connection  which  they  keep  up  with  the  other 
two  more  fortunate  branches  of  the  nation.  It  is  easy  to 
perceive,  therefore,  why  they  should  attach  great  value  to 
these  religious  gatherings,  and  utilize  them  for  secular  pur¬ 
poses.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  character  of  their  re¬ 
ligion,  with  the  secrecy  which  surrounds  it,  enables  them  to 
organize  in  a  special  manner,  and  that  the  theocratic  element 
which  enters  into  their  political  constitution  gives  them  a 
cohesion,  a  unity,  and  a  power  for  combined  action  which 
the  Christian  sects,  with  their  jealousies,  bigotry,  and  in¬ 
ternal  dissensions,  do  not  enjoy. 


HATTIN  AND  IRBID. 


Haifa,  June  22. — While  my  two  days’  experiences  at  the 
Neby  Schaib,  described  in  my  last  two  letters,  were  in  the 
highest  degree  novel  and  picturesque,  and  enabled  me  to 
obtain  an  unusual  insight  into  the  manners  and  customs  and 
religious  observances  of  the  Druse  nation,  my  stay  at  this 
celebrated  shrine  of  their  pilgrimage  was  by  no  means  des¬ 
titute  of  archaeological  interest.  The  village  of  Hattin, 
which  is  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  tomb  of 
the  prophet,  forms  the  centre  of  many  sacred  and  historical 
associations,  while  it  is  in  itself  a  place  of  unusual  beauty 
of  situation. 

In  the  overhanging  rocks  on  the  other  side  of  the  gorge, 
immediately  opposite  my  tent,  were  several  sepulchral 
chambers,  all  traditional  burying-places  of  persons  more  or 
less  historical.  Some  of  these  I  examined.  The  largest 
was  one  entered  by  a  doorway,  which  had  recently  been  in¬ 
habited,  for  the  framework  of  a  wooden  door  to  it  still  re¬ 
mained.  It  was  supposed  to  be  the  burial-place  of  one  of 
Jethro’s  daughters.  We  are  told  by  Josephus  that  his  fam¬ 
ily  followed  the  Israelites  out  of  Midian.  Its  last  occupant 
was  an  Indian  hermit,  who  had  lived  here  in  solitude  for 
three  years,  when,  getting  tired  of  his  seclusion,  he  had 
gone  to  Tiberias  about  a  year  ago,  married  there,  and  im¬ 
mediately  disappeared  with  his  wife,  no  one  knew  whither. 

About  a  hundred  yards  from  the  Neby  there  issues  from 
the  mouth  of  the  gorge  a  copious  spring  which,  in  fact, 
forms  the  source  of  a  brook,  that  ultimately  finds  its  way 
into  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  It  commences  its  beneficent  course, 
however,  by  fertilizing  a  large  area  immediately  surround¬ 
ing  the  village,  where  flourishing  gardens  of  oranges,  lemons, 
figs,  apricots,  pomegranates,  and  other  fruit-trees  impart 
an  air  of  luxuriant  fertility  to  the  landscape  not  common  in 


HATTIN  AND  IRBID. 


153 


these  parts.  Among  these  gardens  is  one  which  was  pur¬ 
chased  a  few  years  ago  by  Sir  Moses  Montefiore,  and  pre¬ 
sented  by  him  to  the  Jews  of  Tiberias.  Here  I  went,  at  the 
invitation  of  the  overseer,  and,  seated  on  mats  under  the 
spreading  arms  of  a  fig-tree,  I  listened,  while  I  sipped  his 
coffee,  to  his  tale  of  woe:  how  last  year  he  had  resisted  what 
he  considered  an  exorbitant  charge  for  taxes,  how  his  gar¬ 
den  had  in  consequence  been  invaded  and  despoiled  by  the 
tax-gatherers;  how,  being  a  British-protected  subject,  and 
the  garden  being  the  property  of  British  subjects,  he  had 
appealed  to  the  British  consul  for  redress;  how  he  had 
spent  .£50  in  the  effort  to  obtain  it,  and  had  found  British 
protection  not  only  a  broken,  but  an  expensive  reed  to  trust 
to;  and  how  he  was  driven,  by  the  refusal  of  the  British 
government  to  protect  its  subjects,  to  try  and  protect  him¬ 
self  by  the  plentiful  expenditure  of  backsheesh.  I  explained 
to  him  that  it  was  not  the  habit  of  the  British  government 
to  protect  its  subjects,  but  rather  to  abandon  them,  even 
though  they  might  be  of  exalted  rank,  and  their  lives  might 
be  at  stake;  and  then  I  went  in  search  of  ruins, 

I  found  some  immediately  adjoining  the  garden.  What 
had  evidently  once  formed  part  of  an  old  Byzantine  church 
was  here  turned  into  a  mosque;  and  upon  one  of  the  stones 
was  a  curious  Cufic  inscription.  In  some  of  the  other  gar¬ 
dens  were  traces  of  foundations,  indicating  that  in  old  times 
Hattin  must  have  been  the  site  of  a  considerable  town.  It 
is  about  two  miles  from  the  ruins  of  Irbid  (which  is  no 
doubt  the  Arbela  of  Josephus),  and  is  probably  the  Caphar 
Hittia  of  the  Talmud,  but  I  find  no  mention  of  the  Hattin 
ruins  in  the  memoirs  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund, 
nor  of  the  Cufic  inscription  which  I  found.  The  way  to  Ir¬ 
bid  lies  across  the  plain,  on  which  a  collection  of  seven 
basalt  stones  in  a  ring  are  called  the  “  Ilajaret  en  Nusara,” 
or  “  stones  of  the  Christians,”  because  tradition  has  it  that 
it  was  here  that  Christ  performed  the  miracle  of  the  seven 
loaves  and  two  fishes. 

The  plain  was  now  waving  with  grain,  nor  would  it  be 
possible  to  imagine  a  more  fertile  or  luxuriant  upland.  On 
its  margin,  where  it  breaks  off  abruptly  into  the  marvellous 
gorge  of  El-Hamam,  with  its  precipitous  sides  rising  twelvo 


154 


HAIFA. 


hundred  feet  sheer  up  from  the  little  stream  which  trickles 
at  their  base,  are  the  ruins  of  Irbid,  interesting  as  contain¬ 
ing  the  remains  of  the  oldest  Jewish  synagogue  probably  to 
be  found  in  Palestine. 

The  steep  hillside  which  slopes  down  to  the  edge  of  the 
cliff  is  very  rocky,  and  numerous  sarcophagi  are  carved  on 
the  surfaces  of  the  natural  slabs.  The  largest  measure  from 
six  feet  to  six  feet  five  inches  long,  and  one  foot  ten  inches 
deep,  being  round  at  the  head  and  square  at  the  foot,  which 
is  slightly  deeper.  There  was  a  ledge  cut  round  to  receive 
the  stone  cover,  and  a  channel  made  to  keep  the  surface 
water  from  running  in.  They  were  of  all  sizes,  some,  evi¬ 
dently,  for  small  children  and  babies.  But  the  most  remark¬ 
able  tomb  was  one  which  opened  out  of  a  deep,  rock-cut 
chamber,  which  appeared  to  have  been  in  connection  with 
a  wine-press.  The  antechamber  formed  a  sunk  court,  about 
twenty  feet  by  ten,  and  contained  a  sarcophagus.  It  opened 
into  a  tomb  containing  six  loculi.  My  guide  was  the  Jew 
who  had  entertained  me  in  the  garden,  and  who  was  well 
versed  in  local  traditions. 

He  informed  me  that  here  were  supposed  to  be  buried 
four  of  the  sons  of  Jacob,  he  did  not  know  which,  and  Jo- 
chabed  and  Dinah.  He  also  pointed  out  to  me  the  tomb  of 
the  Rabbi  ISTitai,  who  was  supposed  to  have  built  the  syna¬ 
gogue  I  had  been  examining,  and  who  was  a  native  of  the 
place,  and  lived  about  two  hundred  years  b.c.;  also  a  mound 
of  stones  covering  apparently  a  rock  tomb,  which  he  de¬ 
clared  was  the  burial-place  of  Seth,  the  son  of  Adam;  but, 
although  from  much  habit  I  am  accustomed  to  swallow  a 
fair  amount  of  traditional  information,  I  was  unable  to  push 
my  credulity  thus  far.  It  is  described,  however,  by  the 
Rabbi  Gerson,  a.d.  1561,  as  being  in  a  cave  with  a  spring 
to  which  a  flight  of  steps  led  down.  The  tombs  of  Zerah 
and  Zephaniah  were  also  pointed  out.  Indeed,  there  are 
few  places  in  Palestine  where  in  the  same  limited  area  such 
a  number  of  distinguished  personages  of  sacred  history  are 
buried  as  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Arbela,  or  Irbid.  I  do 
not  now  include  the  tombs  of  the  numerous  rabbis  whom 
the  Jews  hold  sacred.  If  it  has  a  character  for  sanctity,  it 
must  at  one  time  have  had  a  reputation  for  strength.  From 


HAT  TIN  AND  1RBID. 


155 


its  position  it  must  always  have  been  a  military  stronghold. 
Josephus  tells  us,  in  his  “Life,”  that  when  he  was  Governor 
of  Galilee  he  fortified  it,  and  laid  up  stores  of  grain  here; 
and  it  is  without  doubt  the  Casale  Ardelle  of  the  Teutonic 
knights  (1250  a.d.),  the  d  being  an  error  for  5,  as  it  is  men¬ 
tioned  in  connection  with  Tiberias  and  Beisan,  both  places 
not  very  distant. 

The  only  Biblical  reference  to  this  place  is  that  made  by 
Hosea,  when  he  says,  “  Therefore  shall  a  tumult  arise  among 
thy  people;  all  thy  fortresses  shall  be  spoiled,  as  Shahnan 
spoiled  Beth-Arbel  in  the  day  of  battle.”  As  we  stand  here 
we  can -almost  look  into  the  caverns  with  which  the  face  of 
the  opposite  cliff  is  perforated,  while  the  one  on  the  edge  of 
which  we  stand  is  literally  honeycombed  with  these  subter¬ 
ranean  abodes.  They  are  of  immense  extent,  and  are 
placed  over  each  other  in  different  stories;  some  are  walled 
up,  leaving  doors  and  windows.  Some  idea  of  the  extent 
of  this  singular  natural  fastness  may  be  formed  from  the 
fact  that  it  is  capable  of  containing  six  thousand  men.  The 
caves  communicate  with  each  other  by  subterranean  gal¬ 
leries.  These  are  the  fortified  caverns  mentioned  by  Jose¬ 
phus  in  connection  with  Arbela.  Bachides,  the  general  of 
Demetrius,  the  third  King  of  Syria,  when  he  invaded  Pales¬ 
tine,  encamped  at  Arbela  and  subdued  those  who  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  caves.  This  event  is  narrated  in  Maccabees, 
where  the  caves  are  called  “stories.”  It  was  here,  also, 
that  Herod  the  Great  had  his  famous  fight  with  the  robbers 
who  had  made  their  dens  in  the  caves,  letting  down  his  sol¬ 
diers  in  baskets,  and  fighting  them  in  mid-air. 

I  was  determined  to  push  my  explorations  to  the  summits 
of  the  rocky  crests  which  frowned  above,  and  are  called  the 
Horns  of  Hattin.  Scrambling  up  the  steep,  rocky  hillsides, 
we  found  ourselves  at  last  obliged  to  leave  our  horses  and 
make  our  way  on  foot  over  the  huge  blocks  of  basalt  which 
are  thickly  strewn  around  these  singular  peaks.  On  reach¬ 
ing  the  top  we  found  that  they  had  been  artificially  super¬ 
imposed  one  on  the  top  of  another,  so  as  to  form  a  rocky 
rampart  of  immense  solidity.  Both  crests  had,  at  some  pe¬ 
riod  of  remote  antiquity,  been  thus  fortified.  Beneath  one 
of  them  were  the  foundations  and  ruins  of  an  ancient  town 


156 


HAIFA. 


which  the  inhabitants  call  “  Meclinet  el-Inweileb,”  or  “  the 
ruins  of  the  long  tower.”  At  the  southeast  of  the  hill  is 
an  oblong  cavern  cut  in  the-  rock  and  cased  with  cement, 
which  may  formerly  have  been  a  cistern;  and  not  far  from 
it  are  the  foundations  of  a  building  which  the  natives  say 
was  a  Christian  church  before  the  conquest  of  the  country 
by  the  Mohammedans,  who  subsequently  converted  it  into 
a  mosque.  Nothing  could  be  more  striking  than  the  view 
from  the  summit  of  the  highest  horn.  Immediately  beneath 
us,  some  six  or  seven  hundred  feet  below,  I  looked  down 
into  the  gloomy  gorge,  with  the  white  walls  of  the  Neby 
Schaib  contrasting  with  the  black  basalt  rocks,  its  terraces 
covered  with  groups  of  brightly  costumed  Druses,  their 
songs  as  they  danced  in  circles  reaching  us  on  the  still  air 
of  evening,  and  beyond,  the  modern  village  of  Hattin,  sur¬ 
rounded  by  orange  -  groves  and  fruit  -  gardens  of  the  most 
brilliant  green.  Stretching  away  on  all  other  sides  were  vast 
uplands  of  waving  grain,  till  they  either  sunk  away  into 
valleys  or  terminated  at  the  base  of  hills  which  rose  abrupt¬ 
ly  above  them.  To  the  northeast  the  precipitous  sides  of 
the  Wady  Ilamam,  honeycombed  with  caves,  formed  a  vista 
through  which  appeared  in  the  distance  a  green  strip  of  the 
plain  of  Genesareth  ;  beyond  it  the  waters  of  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  seventeen  hundred  feet  below  us,  gleamed  in  the 
setting  sun.  From  its  eastern  margin  rose  the  steep  cliffs 
above  which  is  the  vast  plateau  of  Jaulan,  once  the  grazing 
lands  of  the  flocks  and  herds  of  Job,  while  a  line  of  conical 
volcanic  peaks,  backed  by  snow-clad  Hermon,  closed  the 
prospect. 


THE  JEWISH  FEAST  OF  THE  BURNING  AT 

TIBERIAS. 

Haifa,  July  8. — In  the  early  days  of  May  there  is  annu¬ 
ally  celebrated  at  Tiberias  a  festival  in  honour  of  the  Rabbi 
Mair,  at  the  large  shrine  built  above  his  tomb,  within  a  few 
hundred  yards  from  the  sulphur  baths.  Thither,  having 
terminated  my  visit  to  the  Druses,  I  determined  to  repair  to 
witness  the  nocturnal  ceremonies. 

I  was  escorted  to  the  extremity  of  the  village  of  Hattin 
by  a  band  of  young  Druses,  firing  guns  and  singing  compli¬ 
mentary  odes,  who  thus  sought  to  speed  with  honour  the 
parting  guest,  and  soon  found  myself  crossing  the  plain  and 
entering  upon  the  steep  descent  that  leads  to  the  shores  of 
the  lake.  It  was  a  soft,  balmy  evening,  about  sunset,  when 
I  reached  Tiberias,  and  found  the  whole  population  in  move¬ 
ment. 

The  distance  from  the  town  to  the  tomb  of  the  rabbi  is 
about  a  mile  and  a  half  along  the  lake  shore,  and  the  road 
was  crowded  with  merry  groups  of  Jewish  men,  women, 
and  children  in  gala  dress,  all  flocking  to  the  place  of  meet- 
in  2:.  The  two  or  three  boats  of  which  the  lake  can  boast 
were  even  put  into  requisition,  and  were  slowly  drifting 
down,  their  large  sails  hardly  filled  with  the  gentle  breeze, 
and  packed  to  overflowing  with  women  and  children.  Ti¬ 
berias  contains  between  three  and  four  thousand  Jews,  and 
certainly  more  than  half  that  number  must  have  turned  out, 
to  say  nothing  of  those  attracted  from  Jerusalem,  Safed, 
and  other  places.  As  those  who  inhabit  Tiberias  are  near¬ 
ly  all  Sephardim,  or  Spanish  Jews,  the  men  wear  the  Oriental 
dress,  while  the  women  indulge  in  a  costume  in  which  the 
Western  fashions  seem  grafted  on  those  of  the  East.  The 
visitors,  who  were  for  the  most  part  Ashkenazim,  or  German 
Jews,  could  easily  be  distinguished,  as  they  always  appear 


158 


HAIFA. 


in  the  clothes  to  which  they  are  accustomed  in  eastern  Eu¬ 
rope.  It  must  he  confessed  that  the  flowing  robe  of  Asia 
is  preferable  to  the  long  coat  or  gabardine  of  Russia  and 
Roumania. 

The  men  usually  walked,  but  a  favourite  method  of  locomo¬ 
tion  among  the  women  was  donkey  back,  and  very  comical 
they  looked,  sitting  astride  very  wide  pads,  with  their  skirts 
well  up  to  their  knees,  and  their  necks  and  wrists  and  fore¬ 
heads  bedizened  with  ornaments,  while  their  wigs  were  of¬ 
ten  a  perfect  garden  of  flowers.  However  pretty  some  of 
the  faces  of  the  younger  members  of  the  female  community 
might  be — and  they  could  not  compare  for  good  looks  with 
the  Druse  girls — nothing  can  compensate  for  the  abomina¬ 
ble  practice  which  prevails  among  them  of  shaving  their 
heads  and  wearing  wigs  of  black  hair,  which  come  low  down 
upon  the  forehead,  and  the  falseness  of  which  no  attempt  is 
made  to  disguise. 

It  occurred  to  me  upon  this  occasion,  as  I  contrasted  their 
chevelure  with  that  of  the  Druses,  to  speculate  on  the  cus¬ 
tom  of  Druse  hairdressing,  which  is  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  that  square  cutting  across  the  forehead  of  locks  drawn 
over  it  which  has  been  so  much  in  vogue  in  England  and 
America  for  the  last  fifteen  years,  popularly  called  “  bang¬ 
ing,”  and  which  was  supposed  at  first  to  be  copied  from  the 
well-known  picture  of  Raphael  as  a  child.  I  have  since  in¬ 
quired  of  some  fashionable  young  Syrian  ladies,  and  the 
younger  ones  assured  me  at  first  that  the  Druses  must  have 
copied  this  from  the  Parisian  fashions  lately  introduced  at 
Beyrout — an  obvious  impossibility.  On  applying  to  older 
ladies,  however,  they  confirm  the  curious  fact  that  this  bang¬ 
ing  has  always  been  a  custom  with  the  Druse  people.  The 
fine  ladies  of  the  present  generation  have  little  guessed 
whom  they  wrere  imitating  in  setting  saucers  upon  their  own 
heads  and  those  of  their  little  ones,  and  snipping  their  hair 
around  them  just  above  their  eyes.  Nothing  could  exceed 
in  vulgarity  the  tinsel  ornamentation  of  the  Jewish  head¬ 
dresses,  and,  to  increase  the  effect,  various  pigments  were 
apparently  used  by  many  of  the  ladies  to  improve  their  com¬ 
plexions. 

As  this  festival  takes  place  in  the  height  of  the  bathing 


THE  JEWISH  FEAST  OF  THE  BURNING  AT  TIBERIAS.  159 


season,  the  shore  of  the  lake  at  this  point  presented  an  ap¬ 
pearance  of  unwonted  animation.  There  were  some  thirty 
or  forty  tents  pitched  round  the  bath-house,  which  an  enter¬ 
prising  Syrian  has  leased  this  year  from  the  government, 
and  whitewashed;  he  even  went  so  far  as  to  offer  to  build  a 
carriage-road  at  his  own  expense  for  the  mile  and  a  half 
which  it  is  distant  from  the  town,  so  as  to  accommodate  pa¬ 
tients  who  had  no  tents  of  their  own;  but  this  was  the  thin 
edge  of  a  wedge  of  civilization  at  which  the  authorities  took 
alarm,  and  he  was  sternly  forbidden  to  spend  any  of  his 
own  money  for  the  public  convenience  in  the  manner  pro¬ 
posed.  The  result  is  that  the  bathers  are  all  obliged  to  live 
in  tents  or  mat  huts,  which  are  unbearably  hot  during  the 
day,  or  ride  from  the  town  and  back  again  for  every  bath. 

Patients  from  all  the  neighbouring  parts  of  Syria  now 
mingled  with  the  Jewish  crowd,  and  streamed  up  the  short 
ascent  which  leads  to  the  tomb,  the  terrace  of  which  was 
already  thronged.  Passing  through  an  archway,  I  entered 
a  courtyard  where  the  usual  circular  dance  was  in  progress, 
the  performers  being  exclusively  male.  The  bedizened  fe¬ 
males  sat  in  groups,  feasting  on  good  things  they  had 
brought  with  them,  and  smoking  narghiles.  Their  small 
children  were  tricked  out  gaudily,  and  by  the  light  of  nu¬ 
merous  flaring  lamps  the  general  effect  was  quaint  and  gay 
enough. 

Ascending  from  this  scene  of  revelry  up  a  massive  stone 
stair,  I  entered  a  chamber  where  the  tomb  of  the  rabbi  was 
surrounded  by  a  wooden  enclosure,  inside  of  which  were 
sundry  rabbis  and  their  neophytes  praying,  with  the  swaying 
motion  of  the  body  peculiar  to  that  act  of  worship,  the 
whole  brilliantly  lighted  with  lamps.  There  was  in  the 
centre  of  this  chamber,  wThich  was  crowded,  an  immense 
chandelier,  of  which  only  a  few  lamps  were  lighted,  and 
beyond  it  I  was  ushered  by  a  Jew,  who  volunteered  to  be 
my  guide,  into  another  room,  stifling  hot,  in  wrhich  sat  the 
chief  rabbi  himself.  Here  a  man  was  perpetually  shouting 
in  a  stentorian  voice  something  which  I  failed  to  under¬ 
stand.  The  chief  rabbi,  hoAvever,  to  whom  I  was  introduced, 
explained  to  me  that  he  was  at  that  moment  selling  by  auc¬ 
tion  the  privilege  of  lighting  the  bonfires  which  were  soon 


160 


HAIFA. 


to  blaze  in  honour  of  the  deceased  rabbi  and  Simon  Ben 
Jochai,  who,  however,  seems  to  be  buried  elsewhere.  This 
privilege  was  put  up  at  two  napoleons  each,  and  the  first 
finally  wTent  for  three,  a  fact  which  the  rabbi  announced  to 
the  audience  in  a  sonorous  Hebrew  chant.  Then  the  other 
lighting  privilege  was  bought  for  a  little  less,  the  money, 
according  to  my  informant,  being  given  to  the  poor.  Af¬ 
ter  that  a  dozen  more  sales  were  made,  simply  for  lamp¬ 
lighting,  the  amounts  bid  averaging  half  a  napoleon. 

Then  a  sort  of  procession  was  formed,  and  the  crowd 
surged  out  down  the  steps  to  the  courtyard,  in  the  centre  of 
which  were  two  columns,  each  surmounted  by  a  sort  of 
large  saucer.  The  excitement  now  became  great,  the  danc¬ 
ing  stopped,  and  men  and  women  joined  in  noisy  acclama¬ 
tions.  A  man  bearing  aloft  an  iron  cradle  full  of  flaming 
rags,  which  had  been  lighted  by  the  highest  bidder,  placed 
them  in  the  saucer  at  the  top  of  the  column  and  poured  a 
bottle  of  kerosene  oil  upon  it.  People  now  came  forward 
with  offerings  to  be  burned.  These  consisted,  for  the  most 
part,  so  far  as  I  could  judge,  of  old  handkerchiefs  and  scarfs. 
The  theory  is  that  they  should  be  articles  of  value,  covered 
with  gold  and  silver  embroidery,  and  that,  after  they  have 
been  committed  to  the  flames,  the  residue  of  gold  and  silver 
which  remains  should  be  scraped  up  and  given  to  the  poor; 
but  I  doubt  whether  the  residue  of  the  rags  which  I  saw 
would  amount  in  value  to  ten  cents.  Then  the  second  bon¬ 
fire  was  lighted,  and  as  both  piles  blazed  up  and  shed  their 
lurid  glow  over  the  eager  faces  of  swarthy  men,  with  their 
long  ear-curls,  and  bedizened  women,  the  scene  was  in  the 
highest  degree  novel  and  picturesque.  The  proceedings 
were  not,  however,  characterized  by  the  gravity  and  har¬ 
mony  befitting  the  occasion. 

As  I  looked  down  upon  the  crowd  from  the  steps  upon 
which  I  was  standing,  I  observed  suddenly  a  violent  commo¬ 
tion,  which  soon  culminated  in  blows  and  sharp  cries,  and 
the  crowd  began  to  surge  violently  to  and  fro.  I  failed  to 
discover  the  cause  of  the  disturbance,  but  it  was  speedily 
interrupted  by  a  strong  body  of  Turkish  police,  who  rushed 
in  brandishing  their  muskets  and  laying  about  them  with 
the  butt  ends.  The  riot  speedily  subsided  under  this  op- 


THE  JE WISH  FEAST  OF  THE  B  URNING  A  T  TIBERIAS.  1 6 1 


portune  display  of  energy,  and  tlie  ringleaders  were  hustled 
off  with  commendable  promptness. 

Meantime  a  somewhat  similar  ceremony  was  taking  place 
in  the  adjoining  courtyard,  where  some  wicker  lamps  were 
being  lighted.  The  pilgrims  who  filled  this  court  were 
Ashkenazim,  and  in  their  more  European  clothes  they  were 
by  no  means  so  picturesque  a  crowd.  It  is  a  singular  fact 
that  the  Sephardim  should  be  confined  to  one  court  and  tho 
Ashkenazim  to  another.  There  is,  indeed,  very  little  sym¬ 
pathy  between  the  two  great  branches  of  the  Jewish  raco 
in  Palestine.  They  live  for  the  most  part  in  different  cities, 
and  have  but  little  intercourse  with  each  other.  Thus,  near¬ 
ly  all  the  Jews  in  Tiberias  are  Sephardim,  while  those  at 
Safed  are  Ashkenazim. 

The  ceremonies  which  I  have  just  described  are  a  mild 
edition  of  what  was  to  take  place  on  a  far  larger  and  more 
important  scale  at  Meron  a  week  later,  but  as  these  latter 
differ  in  no  important  respect  from  those  which  I  witnessed, 
I  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to  stay  for  them.  Jews  como 
from  great  distances  to  take  part  in  the  burnings  at  Meron, 
where  a  great  number  of  bonfires  are  made  in  honour  of  the 
numerous  celebrated  rabbis  who  are  buried  in  the  neighbour¬ 
hood;  and  here  I  was  assured  that  articles  of  great  value 
are  consumed,  and  the  festivities  are  of  a  much  more  noisy 
character,  and  last  through  the  whole  night  instead  of  wind¬ 
ing  up  before  midnight,  as  was  the  case  at  Tiberias.  I  did 
not  even  prolong  my  stay  till  this  hour,  satisfied  with  hav¬ 
ing  assisted  at  ceremonies  which  prove  that  the  Jewish  is 
not  exempt  from  that  tendency  which  characterizes  all  other 
religions,  of  pandering  to  the  grosser  tastes  of  the  masses. 

11 


HOUSE-BUILDING  ON  CARMEL. 


Daliet- el -Carmel,  July  12. —  Those  readers  who  may 
have  read  my  letters  from  Palestine,  may  remember  that 
last  year  I  took  refuge  from  the  summer  heats  at  the  vil¬ 
lage  of  Esfia,  on  the  highest  point  of  Mount  Carmel,  where 
I  established  a  temporary  camp.  The  disadvantage  of  liv¬ 
ing  under  canvas  is  that,  though  it  may  secure  you  cool 
nights,  it  affords  but  insufficient  shelter  from  the  noonday 
sun.  I  therefore  determined  to  build  myself  something  more 
substantial.  My  experiences  of  house-building  on  Carmel 
have  been  both  characteristic  and  instructive. 

When  I  announced  my  intention  to  the  villagers  of  Esfia, 
they  professed  the  greatest  enthusiasm,  and  the  owners  of 
the  land  which  I  had  chosen  for  a  site  expressed  their  de¬ 
sire  to  make  me  a  present  of  it,  so  anxious  did  they  pretend 
to  be  that  I  should  settle  among  them.  I  absolutely  refused, 
however,  to  receive  anything  as  a  gift,  and  told  them  to 
name  their  price.  This  they  modestly  put  at  $650.  As  the 
most  trustworthy  estimate  I  could  obtain  put  its  value  at 
$50,  I  said  I  would  reconsider  my  original  decision  and  ac¬ 
cept  it  as  a  gift.  This  seemed  to  afford  them  intense  amuse¬ 
ment.  Offers  of  this  sort  were  merely  complimentary,  they 
said,  and  meant  nothing.  I  replied  that  the  joke  of  offer¬ 
ing  me  the  land  for  nothing  was  only  equalled  by  their 
asking  me  twelve  times  its  value,  which  I  should  also  con¬ 
sider  meant  nothing.  They  came  down  at  a  bound  to  $250, 
provided  I  would  pay  the  costs  of  the  transfer.  This  I 
found  to  mean  procuring  them  a  valid  title  to  the  land, 
which  they  admitted  they  had  not  got,  and  which  it  would 
cost  $50,  expended  in  bribes  to  the  government,  to  obtain. 
I  suggested  that  I  might  in  that  case  expend  the  $50  in  pro¬ 
curing  a  valid  title  from  the  government  in  my  own  name, 
and  pay  them  nothing,  seeing  that,  though  theoretically, 


HOUSE-BUILDING  ON  CARMEL. 


163 


they  were  not  practically,  the  owners  of  the  land.  This, 
though  it  might  possibly  have  been  accomplished,  would 
have  placed  me  in  oj>en  warfare  with  the  village.  Rather 
than  live  there  under  such  conditions,  I  declined  to  have 
anything  more  to  do  with  people  who  had  shown  such  dis¬ 
honest  and  grasping  propensities.  I  will  say,  however,  that 
these  were  confined  exclusively  to  the  Christian  section  of 
the  population,  who  claimed  the  ownership  of  the  site,  and 
that  the  Druses  held  themselves  aloof  and  repudiated  all 
participation  in  the  negotiations,  expressing  great  indigna¬ 
tion  at  the’  conduct  of  the  Christians,  and  offering  me  sites 
elsewhere. 

I  was  too  disgusted  with  these  latter,  however,  to  be 
tempted  to  live  near  them,  and  was  casting  about  in  despair 
for  an  alternative,  when  one  day  I  received  a  visit  from  the 
Druse  sheik  of  Dalieh,  the  only  other  village  on  Carmel, 
and  distant  about  thirteen  miles  from  Haifa,  who  arrived 
in  great  distress  to  tell  me  that  his  only  son  had  just  been 
drawn  as  a  conscript  for  the  army,  and  that  the  whole  fam¬ 
ily,  including  his  son’s  wife,  whom  I  had  remarked  on  the 
occasion  of  a  former  visit  as  one  of  the  most  beautiful  girls 
I  have  ever  seen,  were  thrown  into  the  greatest  grief,  as 
they  were  unable  to  pay  the  $250  which  was  required  to 
buy  a  substitute.  I  rode  up  to  the  village  to  inquire  into 
the  matter,  and,  in  return  for  the  required  sum,  which  I  paid, 
received  a  vineyard  and  garden  of  fruit-trees,  with  a  good 
title,  and  a  site  far  surpassing  in  loveliness  of  situation  that 
which  I  had  failed  to  secure  at  Esfia.  The  whole  village 
turned  out  en  masse  to  express  their  gratitude  and  make 
professions  of  service.  As  the  village  is  exclusively  Druse, 
and  does  not  contain  a  single  Christian  inhabitant,  I  felt 
that  these  were  to  be  relied  upon;  nor,  so  far,  has  this  con¬ 
fidence  turned  out  misplaced.  The  sheik  to  whom  I  had 
thus  been  able  opportunely  to  render  assistance,  was  the 
spiritual  head  of  the  village.  Its  temporal  affairs  are  man¬ 
aged  by  another  sheik.  The  site  for  my  house  was  only  di¬ 
vided  by  a  terrace  from  the  little  Druse  place  of  worship, 
where,  however,  the  services  are  conducted  under  the  strict¬ 
est  secrecy.  The  whole  hillside  here  is  terraced  with  vines, 
pomegranates,  and  wide-spreading  fig-trees,  at  an  altitude 


164 


HAIFA. 


of  thirteen  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  which  is  distant  as 
the  crow  flies  about  five  miles.  It  commands  a  magnificent 
view  of  it  and  of  the  picturesque  ruin  of  Athlit  on  its  pro¬ 
jecting  promontory,  while  a  smiling  valley,  the  sloping  hills 
of  which  are  partially  cultivated  and  partially  covered  with 
copse- wood,  winds  down  to  a  wild  gorge  between  whose  pre¬ 
cipitous  cliffs  one  enters  the  plain  of  Sharon. 

The  difficulty  in  placing  the  house  was  to  do  so  without 
having  to  cut  down  any  of  the  fig-trees  that  formed  a  sort 
of  bowser  in  which  wTe  had  to  nestle,  and  which  secures  us 
a"bundant  thick  shade.  ~No  sooner  did  we  begin  to  excavate 
for  the  foundations  than  we  came  upon  huge,  massive  cut 
blocks  of  stone,  wdiich  evidenced  the  existence  of  some  pre¬ 
vious  building  of  great  antiquity.  Soon  there  turned  up  a 
beautifully  carved  cornice,  then  a  coin  of  one  of  the  Con¬ 
stantines  of  the  period  of  the  Byzantine  Empire,  then  about 
a  dozen  iron  rings  about  two  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter, 
attached  to  iron  staples,  and  a  quantity  of  nails  about  four 
inches  long,  all  heavily  encrusted  with  rust.  These  were 
dug  up  about  two  feet  beneath  the  surface.  Then  came 
handles  of  jars  and  fragments  of  pottery,  some  pieces  of  old 
glass,  one  apparently  the  stem  of  a  vase,  and  quantities  of 
tesserce,  showing  the  existence  of  a  tessellated  pavement 
somewhere  beneath.  I  was  sorely  tempted  to  diverge  from 
building  into  excavating,  but  I  should  have  destroyed  my 
site,  indefinitely  postponed  the  erection  of  the  house  when 
time  was  of  the  utmost  value,  and  forfeited  my  contract 
with  the  builder.  So  I  have  had  to  do  the  barbarous  thing 
of  building  on  the  top  of  what  may  be  a  most  interesting 
ruin,  and  of  actually  using  the  old  foundations  and  some  of 
the  stone  which  composed  this  house  of  the  ancients. 

The  most  of  the  stones  of  which  the  house  is  built  come, 
however,  from  the  ruins  of  Dubil,  the  extensive  remains  of 
which  are  about  a  mile  distant.  Here  is  the  finest  collection 
of  rock-cut  tombs  on  Carmel;  while  the  number  and  size  of 
the  cisterns,  the  huge  circular  stones  of  the  old  olive-press¬ 
es,  the  basins  carved  in  the  solid  rock  as  wine  vats,  the 
fragments  of  columns,  and  the  area  over  which  the  solid 
foundations  of  the  former  town  extend,  prove  that  it  con¬ 
tained,  in  the  most  ancient  times,  a  larger  population  than 


HOUSE-BUILDING  ON  CARMEL. 


165 


any  other  spot  on  the  mountain.  I  am  able  to  say  this  with 
the  more  confidence  as  I  have  visited  over  twenty  other 
sites  of  ancient  towns  on  Carmel.  From  this  almost  inex¬ 
haustible  quarry  of  old  dwellings  is  my  new  one  mainly  con¬ 
structed,  and  thus  do  I  live  and  move  and  have  my  being 
amid  the  relics  of  a  most  remote  past. 

One  of  the  most  puzzling  of  these  is  an  immense  roller, 
which  I  came  upon  in  making  a  terrace  for  the  veranda, 
from  which  it  now  projects  as  a  conspicuous  ornament.  It 
is  eight  feet  long,  but  one  end  has  been  a  good  deal  broken, 
and  it  may  have  been  longer.  It  tapers  very  slightly  at 
both  extremities,  and  is  nine  feet  in  circumference  around 
the  centre,  the  ends  being  about  two  feet  six  in  diameter. 
It  -has  four  parallel  lines  of  slots  a  little  over  two  feet  apart, 
each  slot  about  eight  inches  long  and  three  deep,  and  two 
wide  at  the  top.  There  are  four  of  these  slots  in  each  line, 
and  they  are  about  eight  inches  apart.  The  whole  mass 
weighs  probably  from  three  to  four  tons.  We  had  quite  a 
force  of  men  to  move  it  into  its  present  position.  I  leave  it 
to  the  wise  in  such  matters  to  conjecture  what  its  possible 
use  may  have  been.  I  have  seen  others  scattered  about  in 
some  of  the  ruins  on  the  mountain,  generally  near  olive- 
presses.  I  think  they  had  some  reference  to  the  crushing 
apparatus. 

But  by  far  the  most  important  find — and  this  was  not 
made  until  after  the  house  was  finished  and  we  wrere  clear¬ 
ing  up  the  debris — was  an  ancient  cistern;  and,  as  luck 
would  have  it,  it  was  just  in  the  position  in  which  I  would 
have  put  a  cistern  had  this  not  appeared  ready  to  hand, 
thus  saving  me  an  expenditure  of  about  $200.  The  aper¬ 
ture,  cut  in  the  solid  rock,  is  two  feet  three  inches  square. 
It  is  then  hollowed,  demijohn  shape,  out  of  the  rock  to  a 
depth  of  fourteen  feet,  with  an  average  breadth  at  the  bot¬ 
tom  of  twelve  feet.  In  the  bottom  is  a  circular  hole  five 
feet  in  diameter  by  three  deep.  This  is  evidently  for  clean¬ 
ing  out  the  cistern,  and  is  a  good  idea,  which  I  should  sug¬ 
gest  be  adopted  by  us  moderns.  It  is  plain  that  if,  instead 
of  having  a  flat  bottom  to  a  cistern,  you  have  a  hole  in  the 
bottom  into  which  you  can  sweep  all  the  dirt,  the  process  of 
cleaning  is  simplified.  It  took  four  men  several  days  to 


166 


HAIFA. 


clean  out  this  old  cistern.  It  contained  a  great  quantity  of 
fine  mould,  some  broken  earthenware  jars,  a  good  many 
large  stones,  and  a  rather  good  fragment  of  a  glass  cup. 
The  old  cement  is  still  visible,  about  half  an  inch  thick. 

Besides  the  cistern,  I  have  found  a  cave,  formerly  a  tomb, 
close  to  the  house,  which  I  shall  use  as  a  cellar,  and  store 
away  my  wine  in  the  stone  coffins,  or  loculi,  in  which  the 
bones  of  some  ancient  characters  have  reposed.  From  all 
which  it  will  appear  that  house-building  in  Palestine,  if  it 
is  attended  with  the  inconveniences  arising  from  the  back¬ 
ward  state  of  civilization,  may  nevertheless  possess  a  charm 
of  its  own. 

If  some  of  our  appliances  are  rough-and-ready,  they  of¬ 
ten  possess  the  merit  of  cheapness.  Plastering,  for  instance, 
is  an  expensive  luxury;  but  the  natives  have  a  way  of  plas¬ 
tering  the  walls  which  is  nearly  as  good,  and  by  no  means 
costly.  This  is  entirely  done  by  the  women,  who  come  and 
sift  soil,  which  they  mix  with  cut  straw  and  water,  and 
knead  into  a  paste.  When  they  have  plastered  the  walls 
and  floor  with  this,  they  make  another  with  a  peculiar,  fine 
white  clay,  which  they  dig  from  certain  places  in  the  hill¬ 
sides,  and,  mixing  this  also  with  finely  chopped  straw,  lay  it 
on  as  an  outer  covering.  It  makes  a  very  pale  yellow  coat¬ 
ing  for  the  walls,  which  is  by  no  means  unsightly.  It  is 
not  so  good,  however,  for  the  floors,  as  it  is  said  to  give  a 
better  harbour  for  fleas  than  another  and  more  expensive 
cement  which  is  made  with  lime,  and  is  called  barbarica. 
This  is  better  also  for  the  flat  roofs,  as  it  is  more  impervious 
to  water  in  the  rainy  season. 

These  roofs  enable  us  to  double  our  accommodations  in  a 
most  economical  fashion.  For  instance,  we  have  a  guest 
coming,  and  if  the  house  is  full,  we  build  him  a  leaf  hut  on 
the  roof  at  the  extravagant  rate  of  75  cents.  These  charm¬ 
ing  little  leaf  huts,  which  can  be  made  most  snug  and  com¬ 
fortable  wdien  lined  with  mats,  can  be  multiplied  at  will 
over  the  whole  roof,  and  the  occupants  have  a  cooler  time 
and  a  more  extensive  view  than  the  dwellers  in  the  stone 
chambers  beneath.  As,  however,  in  these  climates  air  and 
room  add  materially  to  comfort,  our  principal  living-room  is 
thirty  feet  by  twenty,  and  fifteen  feet  high,  though  I  have 


HOUSE-BUILDING  ON  CARMEL.  167 

not  aspired  to  anything  but  a  summer  cottage,  and  the 
whole  cost  has  not  exceeded  $800. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  natives,  this  modest  erection  has 
seemed  something  palatial.  The  people  of  Esfia  have  come 
over,  green  with  envy  of  their  Dalieh  rivals,  and  bitterly 
reproaching  themselves  with  the  short-sighted  cupidity  which 
has  deprived  them  of  the  prestige  which  now  attaches  to 
Dalieh,  and  filled  with  regret  at  the  loss  of  the  money  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  spent  among  them,  while  to  the 
Dalieh  villagers  it  is  a  source  of  pride  and  delight.  When¬ 
ever  any  Druse  sheik  comes  from  a  neighbouring  village, 
he  is  at  once  brought  to  see  the  sight.  The  consequence  is 
that  I  have  no  lack  of  visitors,  and,  foreseeing  this,  took  care 
to  have  a  special  apartment  called  a  “  liwan,”  exclusively 
devoted  to  their  reception.  They  are  thus  barricaded  from 
the  rest  of  the  house.  Otherwise,  with  the  prying  curiosity 
which  characterizes  the  race,  privacy  would  be  impossible. 
As  it  is,  from  morning  to  night  there  is  always  a  group 
round  the  kitchen,  much  to  the  detriment  of  culinary  opera¬ 
tions  and  the  annoyance  of  the  servants  engaged  in  them. 
Still,  in  order  to  keep  on  good  terms,  we  have  to  make  con¬ 
cessions,  to  waste  time  over  much  drinking  of  coffee  out  of 
minute  cups,  to  hear  their  gossip  on  local  politics,  and,  what 
is  still  more  difficult,  to  try  and  give  them  some  larger  ideas 
than  the  very  narrow  ones  which  they  have  acquired  upon 
these  wild  hillsides. 

Altogether,  although  their  defects  are  of  a  somewhat  try¬ 
ing  kind,  and  their  essential  insincerity  makes  them  arrant 
humbugs,  they  are  rather  pleasant  humbugs,  and,  provided 
they  do  not  test  one’s  affection  by  too  many  invitations  to 
dinner,  which  involves  squatting  on  your  heels  and  eating 
with  your  fingers,  the  Druses  are,  taking  them  altogether, 
by  far  the  most  agreeable  class  of  people  to  live  among  in 
Palestine. 


DOMESTIC  LIFE  AMONG  THE  DRUSES. 


Daliet-el-Carmel,  Aug.  1. — A  residence  in  a  Druse  vil¬ 
lage  upon  the  familiar  terms  which  I  have  now  established 
with  the  inhabitants  of  this  one,  opens  up  a  phase  of  ex¬ 
istence  so  utterly  foreign  to  all  Western  notions  of  domestic 
life,  and  involves  experiences  so  novel  and  characteristic, 
that  I  am  constantly  receiving  illustrations  of  the  truth  of 
the  saying  that  one  half  of  the  world  has  no  idea  how  the 
other  half  lives. 

Early  the  other  morning,  for  instance,  my  native  servant 
appeared  in  a  state  of  no  little  excitement  to  tell  me  that 
there  had  been  a  row  in  the  night  in  the  village,  from  which 
my  house  is  distant  only  a  few  hundred  yards,  and  that  a 
young  man  was  being  killed.  This  wTas  modified  a  few 
minutes  after  by  the  arrival  of  some  weeping  females,  wTho 
said  that  if  the  young  man  could  not  find  a  place  of  refuge 
somewhere  he  would  be  killed;  and,  as  if  to  emphasize  this 
statement,  no  great  interval  elapsed  before,  on  going  out 
into  the  kitchen,  I  found  the  young  man  in  question  cling¬ 
ing  to  the  legs  of  the  kitchen  table  as  though  they  were  the 
horns  of  the  altar.  He  was  a  not  very  prepossessing-look¬ 
ing  young  man  of  two  or  three  and  twenty,  and  on  my  ap¬ 
pearance  he  abandoned  the  legs  of  the  table  and  rushed  at 
my  hand,  which  he  seized  and  kissed  effusively.  It  is  as¬ 
tonishing  how  affectionate  a  man  can  become  under  the  in¬ 
fluence  of  panic.  I  told  him  to  go  back  to  the  table-legs 
and  hold  on  there,  and  consider  himself  perfectly  safe.  I 
felt  I  could  say  this  with  a  feeling  of  proud  satisfaction, 
for  had  I  not  the  British  government  at  my  back,  and  is 
not  the  British  government  celebrated  for  the  chivalrous 
promptitude  with  which  it  rushes  to  the  rescue  of  those  in 
bodily  peril? 

Meantime  I  sent  for  the  spiritual  sheik  of  the  village,  as 


DOMESTIC  LIFE  AMONG  THE  DRUSES. 


169 


tlie  secular  one,  who  is  the  real  supreme  authority  in  such 
matters,  happened  to  he  absent.  Now,  so  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  ascertain,  the  wdiole  village,  consisting  of  some 
five  hundred  souls,  is  related  to  the  two  sheiks,  for  the  pop¬ 
ulation  has  gone  on  marrying  and  intermarrying  till  the  re¬ 
lationships  are  unfathomable.  The  young  man  in  question 
was  the  youngest  of  four  brothers,  and  he  had  one  sister 
who  had  married  the  spiritual  sheik’s  son.  His  mother,  af¬ 
ter  having  this  numerous  family,  had  married  the  secular 
sheik,  who  had  himself  had  two  sons  by  a  former  wife  and 
who  has  one  daughter  by  his  present  one.  You  will  observe 
that  the  affair  was  already  becoming  mixed,  and  a  strong 
suspicion  was  gradually  stealing  over  me  that  there  was  a 
woman  at  the  bottom  of  it.  Such,  indeed,  proved  to  be  the 
case;  in  fact,  there  turned  out  to  be  two. 

Now  it  happened,  and  this  is  not  peculiar  to  the  domestic 
relations  of  the  Druses,  that  the  secular  sheik’s  sons  by  his 
first  wife  were  very  jealous  of  the  children  of  their  step¬ 
mother,  and  hated  that  elderly  lady  herself  with  the  cordial 
hatred  not  unknown  to  stepchildren.  They  had  contrived 
so  to  embitter  the  family  circle,  that  the  secular  sheik, 
partly  for  the  sake  of  peace,  and  partly,  as  I  afterwards  dis¬ 
covered,  for  another  reason,  had  banished  her  for  two  years 
past  from  the  marital  roof;  indeed,  it  had  often  been  a  mat¬ 
ter  of  surprise  to  me  when  calling  on  this  sheik,  or  dining 
with  him,  that  I  was  always  waited  on  by  his  daughter  and 
not  by  his  wife. 

Now  the  mystery  was  solved;  but  the  sheik  did  not  ex¬ 
tend  this  inhospitality  to  his  stepsons,  and  the  young  man 
now  holding  on  to  the  kitchen  table  was  especially  favoured, 
and,  although  not  an  inmate  of  his  stepfather’s  house,  made 
himself  too  much  at  home  there  to  suit  his  half-brothers. 
They  determined,  therefore,  to  drive  him  forth.  Now,  the 
sheik  had  another  brother,  who  had  a  wife  much  younger 
than  himself,  and  who,  it  was  whispered,  was  much  admired 
by  the  obnoxious  young  man.  And  it  being  the  end  of 
Ramadan,  and  the  village  being  in  a  state  of  nocturnal  fes¬ 
tivity,  people  were  in  a  mood  for  mischief  all  around,  and, 
rightly  or  wrongly,  the  young  man  being  found  in  the 
sheik’s  brother’s  house  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  fell  un- 


170 


HAIFA. 


der  grave  suspicion,  and  a  tremendous  tumult  took  place, 
in  the  course  of  which  the  sheik’s  son  belaboured  his  step¬ 
mother,  being  assisted  thereto  by  his  uncle;  and  here  I  may 
incidentally  remark  that  Druse  men  appear  to  think  nothing 
of  beating  their  friends’  wives,  whose  husbands  seem  to 
think  it  quite  natural  they  should  do  so.  Perhaps  it  saves 
them  the  trouble;  anyhow,  on  this  occasion  the  women  gave 
vent  to  their  tongues,  and  the  men  retaliated  with  blows. 
Of  course,  the  women  took  the  part  of  the  gay  but  indis¬ 
creet  youth,  who  declared  that  he  wras  in  search  of  a  missing 
cow,  though  it  was  suggested  with  some  force  that  to  go 
and  look  for  her  on  the  roof  of  the  sheik’s  brother’s  house 
after  midnight  showed  an  unpardonable  ignorance  of  the 
usual  haunts  of  cows.  The  whole  of  the  secular  sheik’s 
first  family,  therefore,  and  their  relations  to  the  fifth  degree, 
who  form  the  majority  of  the  male  population,  refusing  to 
admit  any  such  excuse,  and  considering  the  young  man’s 
guilt  proved,  vowed  to  have  his  life,  death  being  the  not 
uncommon  penalty  among  them  for  a  crime  of  this  sort; 
but  the  whole  of  the  spiritual  sheik’s  family,  which  seems 
to  me  to  consist  principally  of  all  the  women  in  the  village, 
accepted  the  young  man’s  version  of  the  affair,  and  main¬ 
tained  his  innocence;  and,  with  that  knowledge  of  human 
nature  which  characterizes  the  sex,  they  instinctively  turned 
to  me  as  their  natural  ally,  and  hence  I  was  saddled  with  the 
protection  of  this  too-susceptible  and  much-menaced  youth. 

The  position  was  delicate,  for  though  I  am  not  insensible 
to  the  advantage  of  possessing  the  suffrages  of  the  female 
part  of  the  community,  I  desired  also  to  stand  well  with  the 
males,  and  I  felt  that  to  interpose  between  them  and  the 
object  of  their  vengeance  was  likely  to  prejudice  me  in 
their  eyes.  At  the  same  time  one  could  not  turn  a  youth 
out  of  one’s  kitchen  to  go  like  a  sheep  to  the  slaughter, 
even  though  he  may  have  been  an  erring  lamb.  Moreover, 
when  I  came  to  hear  the  spiritual  sheik’s  version  of  the 
story,  though  it  was  undoubtedly  one-sided,  the  question  of 
guilt  did  not  appear  to  be  satisfactorily  established.  So  I 
sent  for  the  injured  husband,  and  the  sheik’s  son,  who  had 
beaten  his  stepmother,  to  hear  their  version  of  the  matter, 
but  they  refused  to  answer  my  summons. 


DOMESTIC  LIFE  AMONG  THE  DRUSES . 


171 


Under  these  circumstances  I  determined  to  wait  for  the 
return  of  the  secular  sheik,  which  took  place  the  same  even¬ 
ing.  After  sympathizing  with  him  on  the  distracted  con¬ 
dition  of  his  household,  I  asked  him  if  he  could  suggest  the 
best  course  of  action  for  me  to  pursue,  as  it  was  evidently 
impossible  for  me  to  board  and  lodge  his  stepson  for  an 
indefinite  time  on  the  kitchen  table.  This,  he  admitted,  was 
an  undue  tax  on  my  hospitality.  I  asked  him  if  he  could 
not  exercise  sufficient  authority  over  the  members  of  his 
own  family  to  protect  the  life  of  his  stepson.  This,  he  said, 
he  could  do  while  he  remained  in  the  village,  but  as  he  was 
constantly  being  called  away  on  business,  he  could  not  an¬ 
swer  for  what  might  happen  in  his  absence. 

I  then  asked  whether  it  might  not  be  best  to  send  the 
young  man  away  from  the  village  until  the  storm  had  blown 
over.  I  had  suggested  this  to  the  spiritual  sheik,  but  he 
said  that  in  that  case  the  youth’s  mother  would  follow  him; 
and,  as  I  remarked  to  the  secular  sheik,  I  was  loath  to 
propose  this  to  him,  as  it  would  separate  him  from,  his  wife. 
The  sheik,  with  apparent  distress,  observed  that  his  wife 
did  not  see  much  of  him.  I  asked  whether  I  could  not  be 
the  means  of  healing  this  breach,  and  whether  he  would  al¬ 
low  me  to  send  for  his  wife;  this  he  at  once  assented  to, 
but  the  old  lady  refused  to  come.  This  refusal  on  her  part 
seemed  to  afford  the  sheik  immense  relief,  seeing  which,  I 
remarked,  “Perhaps,  if  your  wife  did  go  away  with  your 
stepson,  you  would  not  mind  it  very  much.”  “No,”  he 
said,  “I  should  not  mind  it  very  much.” 

I  have  since  discovered  that  he  is  very  anxious  to  get  rid 
of  her,  in  order  to  marry  some  one  else.  So  I  packed  the 
young  man  off  to  a  Christian  of  my  acquaintance  at  Esfia, 
two  miles  off,  thinking  his  mother  would  follow  him;  but 
not  a  bit.  She  has  now  taken  up  her  abode  with  the  spir¬ 
itual  sheik,  and  I  am  at  this  moment  employing  her  to  make 
a  mud  floor  under  a  fig-tree,  on  which  I  intend  to  put  bee¬ 
hives.  I  rode  over  a  few  days  ago  to  Esfia,  and  found  the 
young  man  comfortably  installed  with  his  Christian  host, 
who,  with  true  Arab  hospitality,  charges  him  nothing  for 
his  entertainment,  but  who  will  probably  be  indemnified  for 
it  by  a  present  from  the  spiritual  sheik.  Meantime,  influ- 


172 


HAIFA. 


ences  are  at  work  to  prepare  the  way  for  his  safe  return, 
and  I  trust  that  I  have  so  managed  these  delicate  negotia¬ 
tions  as  to  secure  me  the  good-will  of  both  factions,  though 
I  am  afraid  that  the  breach  between  them  will  never  be 
healed  until  the  secular  sheik  divorces  his  present  wife  and 
takes  a  fresh  departure  by  uniting  himself  to  the  lady  of  his 
affections. 


CIRCASSIAN  HIGHWAYMEN.— A  DRUSE  FESTI¬ 
VAL  AT  ELIJAH’S  ALTAR. 


Daliet-el-Cakmel,  Aug.  15. — About  this  time  last  year, 
when  I  was  at  Esfia,  we  were  suddenly  disturbed  by  the 
intelligence  that  a  German  teamster,  whom  I  have  been  in 
the  habit  of  employing,  had  been  attacked  in  the  night  at 
the  bridge  over  the  Kishon,  distant  about  three  miles  from 
my  camp,  while  on  his  way  from  Haifa  to  Nazareth,  by  four 
Circassians,  who,  suddenly  surrounding  him,  pointed  their 
guns  at  his  head,  thus  preventing  him  from  using  his  re¬ 
volver,  which  they  stole  from  him,  at  the  same  time  cutting 
the  traces  of  his  team  and  carrying  off  a  valuable  pair  of 
horses,  leaving  the  poor  man  helpless  with  his  wagon  at 
about  one  o’clock  in  the  morning,  far  from  any  help,  but 
thankful  to  have  escaped  with  his  life. 

The  whole  machinery  of  the  local  police  was  put  in  mo¬ 
tion,  and  the  authorities  professed  to  take  up  the  matter  in 
earnest.  Some  of  the  German  colonists  scoured  the  coun¬ 
try  in  pursuit  of  the  robbers,  who  appear  to  have  fled  to 
some  Circassian  colonies  wThich  were  established  about  five 
years  ago  on  the  plains  of  Iturea,  near  the  foot  of  Hermon, 
beyond  the  Jordan,  and  there  all  trace  of  them  was  lost. 
They  had  got  among  friends,  who  covered  their  tracks,  and 
the  horses  were  never  recovered.* 

Since  this  time  the  colonists,  who  are  constantly  travel¬ 
ling  in  their  wagons  between  Haifa  and  Nazareth,  and  in 
the  hottest  weather  generally  make  the  journey  by  night, 
always  go  two  or  three  together,  and  had  not  been  molested 
until  a  few  nights  ago,  when  two  of  them  started  for  Naza¬ 
reth,  one  of  them  the  victim  of  last  year.  His  companion, 
who  had  left  Haifa  a  little  before  him,  expecting  to  be 
shortly  overtaken,  was  jogging  along  at  about  8  p.m.,  and 

*  A  year  later  the  thieves  were  found,  and  the  Circassian  colony  to  which 
they  belonged  was  compelled  by  the  government  to  refund  the  Germans  the 
value  of  the  horses. 


174 


HAIFA. 


was  not  above  four  miles  distant  from  Haifa,  when  a  Cir¬ 
cassian  rode  past  him,  wishing  him  good-evening.  The 
German  returned  the  salute,  but  his  suspicions  were  roused 
by  the  man’s  manner,  and  he  got  his  revolver  ready.  Al¬ 
most  immediately  after  he  heard  a  whistle,  the  man  who 
had  passed  him  turned  sharply  back,  and  two  others  sprang 
upon  him  from  an  ambush,  where  they  had  been  concealed, 
by  the  roadside.  One  of  them  seized  his  horses’  heads,  while 
the  others  began  cutting  the  traces.  The  teamster  instantly 
jumped  from  the  box,  and,  unwilling  to  shoot  before  it  was 
absolutely  necessary,  closed  with  one  of  the  robbers,  strik¬ 
ing  at  him  with  the  butt  of  his  pistol.  He  was,  however, 
nearly  overpowered,  and  had  just  time,  as  he  saw  his  ad¬ 
versary  draw  a  knife,  to  send  a  bullet  through  him.  At 
this  moment  he  received  a  severe  blow  on  the  back  from 
one  of  the  other  men,  who  rushed  to  the  assistance  of  his 
comrade,  but  the  German,  who  was  an  old  soldier  and  had 
been  through  the  Franco-German  campaign,  was  a  quick 
shot,  and  knocked  this  man  over  with  a  second  barrel.  At 
this  moment  a  fourth  Circassian  appeared  upon  the  scene. 
Fortunately,  the  attacking  party  were  only  armed  with 
knives.  The  two  remaining  Circassians  now,  seeing  that 
two  of  their  number  had  been  disposed  of,  began  to  draw 
off  their  bodies,  it  being  a  first  principle  of  their  warfare  to 
carry  away  their  dead.  This  gave  the  German,  who  was 
scarcely  able  to  raise  himself  from  the  ground,  a  chance  to 
fire  two  more  shots,  but,  as  it  seemed  at  the  time,  without 
effect,  and  the  twTo  Circassians,  throwing  the  bodies  of  their 
companions  over  their  horses,  made  off. 

By  this  time  the  other  German  teamster,  who  had  been 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  behind,  but  had  pushed  on  on  hearing 
the  shots,  came  up  and  helped  his  wounded  friend.  He, 
however,  was  able  to  continue  his  journey  to  Nazareth, 
and  in  a  few  days  recovered  from  the  effects  of  his 
bruises.  Meantime  information  has  been  received  from 
a  peasant  where  the  Circassians  passed  the  night,  that  one 
of  them  had  been  killed  on  the  spot,  that  another  died  of 
his  wound  shortly  after  he  was  brought  to  his  cottage,  and 
that  the  third  had  a  ball  through  his  leg,  but  that  his  wound 
had  not  been  sufficiently  serious  to  prevent  his  continuing 


CIRCASSIAN  HIGHWAYMEN. 


175 


his  journey  the  following  night  with  the  corpses  of  his 
companions.  One  would  think,  under  these  circumstances, 
that  if  the  authorities  chose  there  could  be  no  great  diffi¬ 
culty  in  tracing  the  miscreants;  but  no  steps  whatever  have 
been  taken  in  the  matter,  which  is,  perhaps,  the  best  solu¬ 
tion  of  it,  for  whenever  a  foreigner  is  unhappily  obliged  to 
kill  a  native  in  self-defence  in  this  country  the  chance  is 
that  he  has  to  stand  his  trial  on  a  counter  charge  of  murder. 
Now,  thanks  to  the  precautions  taken  by  the  Circassians, 
and  the  apathy  of  the  government,  there  is  no  proof  of  any 
one  having  been  killed,  and  the  Circassians  have  received  a 
much  severer  punishment  than  any  that  would  have  been 
inflicted  upon  them  for  horse-stealing  by  the  authorities,  and 
they  are  likely  to  be  careful  how  they  meddle  again  with 
the  Germans. 

Opinions  are  divided  as  to  whether  they  will  seek  their 
revenge  or  not.  The  Germans  still  continue  to  team  by 
night  to  Nazareth,  but  they  go  in  parties  of  never  less  than 
three  wagons  together,  and  well  armed.  Had  the  robbers 
been  Bedouins  or  native  Arabs,  this  encounter  would  mean 
a  blood  feud,  and  sooner  or  later  revenge  would  be  taken; 
but  I  once  spent  some  weeks  with  the  Circassians  in  their 
own  country,  and  I  do  not  think  that  they  have  the  same 
custom  of  vendetta.  Indeed,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
they  are  a  most  lawless  and  thieving  set  as  colonists,  I 
found  them  a  very  safe  and  pleasant  people  to  travel  among 
in  their  own  mountains,  where  they  have  their  code  of 
honour  and  hospitality,  and  I  have  spent  a  day  with  them  in 
one  of  their  colonies  beyond  Jordan,  and  received  nothing 
but  civility.  It  would,  however,  be  better  to  keep  them  in 
those  wild  and  half-savage  regions  than  bring  them  within 
range  of  the  temptations  which  civilization  offers  to  them. 

I  have  just  seen  a  man  who  has  been  paying  them  a 
visit  at  the  old  city  of  Jerasli,  which,  with  the  exception  of 
Palmyra,  is  the  most  perfect  Greco-Roman  ruin  which  exists 
to  the  east  of  Baalbec.  My  informant  tells  me  that  in  the 
course  of  their  excavations  for  stone  for  their  habitations 
they  are  making  great  discoveries.  They  have  unearthed  a 
heretofore  undiscovered  and  unsuspected  temple,  with  a 
subterranean  conduit  of  flowing  water,  and  many  fragments 


176 


HAIFA. 


of  statues  and  coins.  One  large  jar  of  gold  coins,  worth 
$50  each,  was  an  immense  prize,  which  they  only  succeeded 
in  keeping  by  paying  a  bribe  to  the  government  official  of 
$2500.  My  informant  saw  one  of  these  coins,  but,  as  he 
was  a  native,  and  ignorant  of  such  matters,  his  description 
was  too  vague  to  convey  any  definite  idea  of  their  date.  I 
should  feel  much  tempted  to  pay  these  ruins,  which  I  have 
already  examined  once,  another  visit,  but  of  late  years  the 
government  throws  so  many  obstacles  in  the  way  of  travel¬ 
lers  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan  that  such  a  journey  now  may 
expose  one  to  annoyances. 

Meantime,  there  are  many  objects  of  interest  in  this  im¬ 
mediate  neighbourhood;  within  a  distance  of  three  miles  I 
have  found  the  extensive  remains  of  what  have  been  un¬ 
doubtedly  iron  and  copper  mines.  The  former  ore  was 
present  in  large  quantities,  and  the  day  may  come  when 
this  discovery  may  prove  of  considerable  value  to  this  part 
of  the  country,  though  it  would  be  useless,  under  existing 
conditions,  to  take  any  steps  towards  its  exploration  now.  It 
is  probable  that  the  old  iron  rings  which  I  found  in  dig¬ 
ging  the  foundations  of  my  house  were  made  from  this  ore. 

I  have  also  found  a  curious  square  structure,  fourteen 
feet  in  height,  twelve  feet  square,  composed  of  stones  aver¬ 
aging  three  feet  by  two,  by  about  one  in  thickness,  all  care¬ 
fully  squared,  and  laid  one  upon  another  without  cement, 
the  whole  forming  a  perfectly  solid  erection  of  great  an¬ 
tiquity.  It  may  possibly  have  been  a  vineyard  watch- 
tower.  It  is  on  the  way  from  here  to  the  “  Place  of  Burn¬ 
ing,”  or  Elijah’s  sacrifice,  and  is  the  second  I  have  found 
in  that  neighbourhood,  the  other  being  considerably  small¬ 
er.  I  came  upon  it  accidentally  on  the  occasion  of  a  Druse 
picnic  to  which  I  was  invited,  and  which  took  place  at  the 
“  Place  of  Burning,”  in  celebration  of  the  last  day  of  the 
feast  of  Ramadan,  which  the  Druses  seem  to  observe  as 
well  as  the  Moslems,  though  on  a  different  day. 

The  female  population  of  the  village,  in  their  gayest 
dresses,  had  preceded  us  on  donkeys.  I  accompanied  the 
sheik,  who  had  drawn  up  on  a  little  plain  outside  the  town 
about  a  dozen  horsemen  as  an  escort,  and  thus,  after  a  little 
of  the  usual  imitation  of  the  equestrian  game  of  the  djerrid, 


A  DRUSE  FESTIVAL  AT  ELIJAH'S  ALTAR.  177 


at  which,  in  default  of  the  real  thing,  the  horsemen  delight 
to  exercise  their  horses  by  a  mock  encounter,  we  formed  in 
a  sort  of  procession,  the  young  men  of  the  village  on  foot, 
armed  with  great  clubs,  chanting  songs  of  love  and  war, 
as  they  marched  in  front.  There  were  from  two  to  three 
hundred  persons  collected  on  the  flat  space  in  front  of  the 
church  which  the  Carmelite  monks  have  recently  erected  on 
the  supposed  site  of  Elijah’s  altar.  And  here  the  usual 
dancing-circles  were  formed,  and  the  fun  of  the  day  com¬ 
menced.  But  it  was  melancholy  fun.  How  could  it  be 
otherwise,  when  the  young  men  and  women  are  not  allowed 
to  dance  together,  scarcely  even  to  speak  to  one  another? 
It  was  quite  pitiful  to  see  half  a  dozen  of  the  prettiest  girls 
that  could  be  found  in  Syria  sitting  under  the  shade  of  a 
tree,  gossiping,  and  looking  at  half  a  dozen  line,  stalwart, 
handsome  young  fellows  prancing  about  on  their  horses,  or 
singing  and  dancing,  without  there  being  the  ghost  of  a 
chance  of  a  flirtation.  The  girls  cooked  together  and  ate 
together  and  danced  together  and  sang  together,  and  the 
young  men  amused  themselves  apart  as  best  they  could. 
As  the  delights  of  flirting  are  unknown  to  them,  I  suppose 
they  did  not  miss  them;  but  as  I  looked  at  the  young  peo¬ 
ple  of  both  sexes  thus  divided,  I  wondered  what  would  be 
the  result  of  a  similar  experiment  if  it  were  tried  at  an 
American  picnic. 

It  was  a  curious  sight  to  see  a  bevy  of  at  least  fifty  wom¬ 
en  and  girls  rush  into  the  Carmelite  chapel,  which  during 
the  week  is  left  in  charge  of  a  Druse,  who  on  this  occasion 
did  the  honours  of  it  to  his  coreligionists,  who  scampered 
all  over  the  premises,  gazing  wonderingly  at  the  altar  or¬ 
naments,  and  forming  large  dancing- circles  on  the  flat 
roof.  I  could  not  exactly  find  out  why  the  Druses  chose 
the  place  of  Elijah’s  sacrifice  as  the  scene  of  their  festivity, 
but  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  traditions  of  a  special  sanc¬ 
tity  are  attached  to  it  in  their  religion  as  well  as  in  that  of 
the  Roman  Catholics,  and  that  the  slaughter  of  the  eight 
hundred  false  prophets  by  the  holy  man  whose  prayers  for 
rain  were  heard  on  this  spot,  and  upon  whom  the  divine  ven¬ 
geance  was  invoked,  appeals  to  a  sentiment  which  is  com¬ 
mon  to  the  Christian,  the  Moslem,  and  the  Druse  religions. 

12 


ARMAGEDDON. — THE  BOSNIAN  COLONY  AT 

CiESAREA. 


Daliet  -  el  -  Carmel,  Sept.  11. — There  is  no  fact  at 
first  more  puzzling  to  the  traveller  in  Palestine  than  the 
contrast  between  the  misery  and  poverty  of  the  fellahin 
and  the  extent  and  fertility  of  land  owned  by  each  village. 
This  is,  however,  the  inevitable  result  of  the  various  fiscal 
devices  to  which  the  government  has  been  compelled  to  re¬ 
sort,  in  order  to  provide  a  revenue  which  shall  meet  the 
needs  of  its  internal  administration,  and  the  claims  of  its 
foreign  bondholders.  These  press  more  severely  on  the 
peasant  class  than  on  any  other  in  the  community,  and  as 
the  financial  necessities  of  the  empire  increase,  new  meth¬ 
ods  are  being  constantly  devised  to  meet  them.  Thus 
the  latest  arrangement  requires  the  taxes  to  be  paid  in 
money  instead  of  in  kind,  as  heretofore,  the  amount  being 
assessed  on  an  average  of  the  crops  extending  over  a  period 
of  five  years.  This  has  produced  the  greatest  consternation 
among  the  peasantry  throughout  the  country,  who  find  them¬ 
selves  quite  unable  to  meet  this  new  demand,  and  who  are 
compelled,  in  consequence,  to  resort  to  extortionate  money¬ 
lenders,  who  charge  from  thirty  to  forty  per  cent,  for  their 
advances,  thus  ruining  the  fellahin,  whose  villages  are  all 
destined  by  this  process  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  these  grasp¬ 
ing  usurers,  while  the  peasants  remain  upon  them  as  serfs, 
merely  receiving  so  much  of  the  crop  as  will  keep  them 
from  starving.  Thus  it  happened  that,  in  the  belief  that  I 
had  more  bowels  of  compassion  than  their  own  countrymen, 
I  was  applied  to  by  the  villagers  in  all  directions;  among 
others,  by  those  who  owned  the  lands  of  Lejjun,  or  the  bib¬ 
lical  Megiddo.  This  is  generally  supposed  to  be  identical 
with  Armageddon,  and  the  notion  of  becoming  the  proprie¬ 
tor  of  a  battle-field  which  possesses  such  interesting  his- 


ARMAGEDDON. 


179 


torical  associations  in  the  past,  to  say  nothing  of  the  future, 
which  may  be  mythical  or  not,  according  to  theological 
fancy,  induced  me  to  pay  a  visit  to  that  celebrated  locality. 
Its  position  was  as  tempting  as  its  sentimental  considerations 
were  remarkable.  Here,  jutting  out  into  the  plain  of  Es- 
draelon,  of  which  it  commands  an  extensive  view,  stands  the 
Tell  et  Mutsellim,  or  governor’s  hill,  upon  which  the  traces 
of  what  may  have  been  a  palace  are  distinctly  visible.  Right 
opposite  to  us  across  the  plain,  about  twelve  miles  distant, 
the  houses  of.  Nazareth  gleam  upon  the  lofty  hillside;  to 
the  right  are  Tabor,  Little  Hermon,  and  Mount  Gilboa,  with 
the  mountains  of  Gilead  in  the  rear.  Beneath,  circling  round 
the  base  of  the  mound,  are  “  the  waters  of  Megiddo,”  a 
copious  stream,  turning  two  water-mills  and  irrigating  an 
extensive  tract  of  plain.  Behind  us  is  an  undulating  plateau 
covered  with  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  city.  Here  are  frag¬ 
ments  of  columns,  carved  capitals  and  cornices,  and  I  found 
some  subterranean  chambers  into  which  I  crawled,  and 
which,  as  they  connected  with  the  stream  by  stone  conduits, 
I  assume  must,  in  old  times,  have  been  baths.  The  peasants 
have  found  antiques  of  various  kinds,  and  I  was  shown  the 
hand  and  forearm  of  a  female  figure,  life-size,  and  beauti¬ 
fully  carved  in  marble,  which  they  had  dug  up.  There  is 
no  saying  what  treasures  the  fortunate  proprietor  of  this 
place  may  not  unearth,  and  with  the  wealth  of  water  at  his 
command,  of  which  but  little  advantage  is  now  taken,  he 
might  have  extensive  gardens  and  orange  groves.  From 
this  point  a  great  military  road  passed,  in  the  most 
ancient  times,  connecting  Galilee  with  the  coast  road. 
Along  it,  before  the  conquest  of  Canaan  by  the  Israelites, 
Thothmes,  the  King  of  Egypt,  led  his  invading  hosts  into 
Syria.  Here,  by  “  the  waters  of  Megiddo,”  was  fought  the 
great  battle  between  Barak  and  Sisera,  when  the  stars 
in  their  courses  fought  against  Sisera;  and  on  the  same 
ground,  six  centuries  later,  the  hosts  of  Pharaoh  Necho 
met  the  army  of  Josiah,  King  of  Judah,  and  vanquished 
it,  while  the  king  himself,  being  “sore  wounded”  as  he 
rode  in  his  chariot,  was  carried  away  to  Jerusalem  to 
die. 

On  making  inquiries  of  a  practical  kind  in  regard  to  the 


180 


HAIFA. 


present  financial  position  of  this  property  and  its  peasant 
owners,  I  began  to  suspect  that  any  foreigner  who  desired 
to  become  its  possessor  would  find  himself  involved  in  a 
struggle  of  a  different  kind  from  that  of  which  in  past 
times  it  has  been  the  scene,  and  one  more  consonant  with 
the  spirit  of  the  age  in  which  we  live.  The  invasion  of 
Palestine  of  late  years  by  foreigners  of  all  religions  and 
nationalities,  the  constant  influx  of  Jews,  and  the  increasing 
attention  which  the  Holy  Land  is  concentrating  upon  itself, 
has  so  far  alarmed  the  Porte  that  foreigners  are  practically 
prohibited  from  purchasing  any  more  land  in  the  country; 
and  the  peasantry  of  the  villages  who  applied  to  me  for  as¬ 
sistance  were  informed  that,  even  if  I  were  prepared  to  lend 
them  money,  they  were  not  to  be  allowed  to  borrow.  I 
was  thus  relieved  of  the  great  annoyance  of  having  con¬ 
stantly  to  refuse  applications,  wdiich,  under  any  circumstan¬ 
ces,  I  could  not  have  satisfied. 

From  Megiddo  I  followed  the  historical  highway  through 
the  mountain,  which,  in  the  days  of  Christ,  when  Caesarea 
was  rising  into  its  grandeur,  must  have  been  one  of  the 
most  frequented  routes  in  the  country.  The  road  led 
through  charmingly  diversified  scenery.  I  turned  off  from 
it  to  ascend  to  the  town  of  Umm-el-Fahm,  an  important 
place,  containing  about  two  thousand  inhabitants,  situated 
on  copse-clothed  hills,  at  an  elevation  of  fifteen  hundred 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  commanding  extensive 
views.  Here  I  was  the  guest  of  a  local  millionaire,  noted 
for  his  penurious  habits  and  his  grasping  nature.  His  rag¬ 
ged  appearance  and  humble  establishment  did  not  belie  his 
reputation.  I  had,  however,  no  reason  to  complain,  for,  if 
the  accommodation  was  rough,  his  intentions  were  certainly 
hospitable. 

The  romantic  valleys  by  which  the  village  is  surrounded 
are  thickly  planted  with  olive  groves,  -which  contain  over  a 
hundred  thousand  trees,  and  are  a  great  source  of  revenue. 
While,  when  they  are  too  far  from  the  village  for  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  any  crop,  the  hillsides  and  summits  are  clothed 
with  a  dense  undergrowth  of  scrub  oak,  terebinth,  and  other 
shrubs,  which  are  only  prevented  from  becoming  forest  trees 
by  the  charcoal-burners ;  but  their  quick  growTh  testifies  to 


ARMAGEDDON. 


181 


the  richness  of  the  soil.  To  the  north  the  range  extends  for 
fifteen  miles,  to  the  base  of  Carmel.  The  woodland  disap¬ 
pears,  and  is  succeeded  by  rolling  chalk  downs,  affording 
magnificent  pasturage  and  good  arable  land,  for  it  is  well 
watered,  and  from  its  temperate  and  healthy  climate  is 
called  the  “  breezy  land.” 

The  villages  here  are  small,  few,  and  far  between,  and 
there  is  room  for  a  large  population;  but  the  most  tempting 
land  of  all  is  the  tract  between  Umm-el-Fahm  and  the  sea, 
where  the  oak-trees  which  are  scattered  over  the  pastures 
and  cornfields  attain  a  large  growth,  and  the  country  pre¬ 
sents  the  appearance  of  an  immense  park.  From  an  artis¬ 
tic  point  of  view  the  woods  and  the  farm  lands  are  so  com¬ 
bined  as  to  form  the  most  perfectly  diversified  scenery,  just 
where  the  rolling  hills  slope  gently  down  into  the  plain  of 
Sharon.  It  was  across  this  country  that  our  road  lay  to 
Caesarea,  which  was  our  objective  point,  first,  through  the 
thick  copse  of  the  upper  valleys,  and  so  out  upon  the  park¬ 
like  uplands,  where  the  whole  population  was  out  in  the 
fields  gathering  the  crops,  which  strings  of  camels  were  con¬ 
veying  to  the  village  threshing-floors.  Here  and  there  was 
a  money-lender  from  Acre  or  Bey  rout,  squatting  under  an 
umbrella,  to  see  that  the  peasantry  did  not  rob  him  of  his 
share.  This  is  a  busy  time  with  these  gentry,  who  are  the 
bloodsuckers  of  the  fellahin,  to  whom  they  advance  money 
at  exorbitant  rates  of  interest,  while  the  latter,  in  revenge, 
resort  to  every  conceivable  device  to  conceal  from  them  the 
real  extent  of  the  crop,  and  to  make  the  proportion  coming 
to  them  as  small  as  possible. 

At  one  village  called  Arareh  I  found  three  old  Roman 
arches,  a  fine  fragment  of  a  column,  and  some  rock-cut 
tombs,  which  seem  hitherto  to  have  escaped  observation. 
The  remains  indicate  that  it  must  have  been  a  place  of  con¬ 
siderable  importance,  but  I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  iden¬ 
tify  it.  The  plain  of  Sharon,  where  we  struck  it,  is  being 
by  degrees  brought  into  cultivation,  partly  by  colonists, 
Circassian  and  Bosnian,  and  partly  by  native  capitalists. 
The  peasantry  themselves  are  rapidly  losing  all  proprietor¬ 
ship  in  the  soil,  unable  to  contend  against  the  exactions  of 
the  government  tax-gatherer,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the 


182 


HAIFA. 


usurious  money-lender,  on  the  other ;  but  while  they  are 
yearly  becoming  more  impoverished  and  dependent,  the 
wealth  of  the  country  is  steadily  increasing,  and  its  develop¬ 
ment  must  follow  as  a  matter  of  course,  though,  in  accord¬ 
ance  with  the  tendencies  of  modern  civilization,  it  will  be 
at  the  expense  of  the  masses. 

I  went  to  lunch  with  the  largest  of  these  local  magnates. 
He  was  a  Turk,  and  spoke  Turkish  in  preference  to  Arabic. 
He  had,  as  may  be  supposed,  little  sympathy  with  the  Arab 
peasantry,  who  were  practically  his  serfs,  and  their  condi¬ 
tion  was  by  no  means  improved  by  their  lands  having  fall¬ 
en  into  his  hands.  On  the  other  hand,  they  never  would 
have  introduced  the  civilized  iron  ploughs  with  which  he 
was  bringing  land  into  cultivation.  His  farm-house  was  a 
large,  straggling,  isolated  building,  which  stood  on  a  hillock 
in  the  plain,  with  extensive  outhouses  and  dependencies, 
not  unlike  the  residence  of  a  Southern  planter,  while,  curi¬ 
ously  enough,  a  large  proportion  of  his  farm  hands  con¬ 
sisted  of  African  negroes  located  in  a  village  hard  by — but 
he  had  none  of  the  lavish  hospitality  which  characterized 
the  landed  proprietors  of  the  South. 

A  ride  of  an  hour  over  a  part  of  the  plain  which,  from 
the  peculiar  quality  of  its  soil,  is  exclusively  devoted  to  the 
growth  of  water-melons,  hitherto  the  sole  export  of  the  lit¬ 
tle  haven  of  Caesarea,  brought  me  to  that  spot.  Although 
the  remains  of  the  old  port  have  been  used  as  a  harbour  for 
coasting  craft,  these  ruins  have  not  been  inhabited  since 
they  were  evacuated  by  the  crusaders  at  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  Indeed,  there  is  a  curious  prediction 
connected  with  them,  to  the  effect  that  the  rebuilding  of 
a  town  here  would  immediately  precede  a  great  disaster 
to  Islam.  It  has  been  in  consequence  of  this,  as  I  have 
understood,  that  while  villages  have  sprung  up  on  all  the 
other  crusading  ruins  on  the  coast,  this  one  alone  has  re¬ 
mained  untenanted.  However  this  may  be,  the  spell  is 
broken  now,  for  about  six  months  ago  the  first  instal¬ 
ment  of  a  band  of  refugees  from  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina 
arrived  here,  having  been  allotted  this  ruin  and  the  lands 
surrounding  it  by  the  government,  as  the  nucleus  of  a  new 
colony. 


THE  BOSNIAN  COLONY  AT  CAESAREA. 


183 


Apart  from  the  great  interest  which  these  extensive  ruins 
must  ever  have  from  an  antiquarian  point  of  view,  I  was 
anxious  to  visit  Caesarea  to  judge  for  myself  of  the  pros¬ 
pects  of  this  embryo  colony,  and  make  personal  acquaint¬ 
ance  with  this  new  and  interesting  class  of  immigrants. 
Moreover,  as  the  new  town  is  to  be  built  upon  the  ruins 
of  the  old,  it  was  evident  that  I  should  never  have  another 
chance  of  seeing  what  these  were  like.  They  have  alread}r 
during  the  last  twenty  years  served  as  a  quarry  from  whence 
the  magnificent  building-stones,  cut  originally  by  Herod  the 
Great  when  he  built  the  town,  have  been  transported  in 
thousands  of  boat-loads  to  Acre  and  Jafifa.  The  ruins  have 
therefore  lost  much  of  the  pristine  grandeur  which  is  de¬ 
scribed  in  the  records  of  travellers  in  the  early  part  of  the 
present  century.  In  a  few  years  more  they  will  probably 
have  disappeared  altogether.  The  subterranean  treasures, 
whatever  they  may  be,  will,  however,  remain  untouched, 
and  the  Schliemann  of  a  future  age  will  find  here  the 
traces  of  five  successive  epochs  of  civilization.  On  the  top 
he  will  find  the  ruins  of  the  stone  houses  of  the  Bosnians 
and  Herzegovinians,  now  in  process  of  erection;  below 
them  the  foundations  of  the  great  Crusading  fortress,  and 
below  them  again  the  remains  of  the  first  Mohammedan 
period;  beneath  them,  traces  of  the  Byzantine  period,  and, 
at  the  bottom,  the  tessellated  pavements,  the  fragments 
of  carved  marble,  the  statuary,  and  the  coins  of  the  Ro¬ 
man  period. 

Meantime  it  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  strip  of  coast  from 
Haifa  to  Caesarea  seems  to  have  become  a  centre  of  influx 
of  colonists  and  strangers  of  the  most  diverse  races.  The 
new  immigrants  to  Caesarea  are  Slavs.  Some  of  them 
speak  a  little  Turkish.  Arabic  is  an  unknown  tongue  to 
them,  which  they  are  learning.  Their  own  language  is  a 
Slav  dialect.  When  the  troubles  in  the  provinces  of  Bosnia 
and  Herzegovina  first  broke  out,  which  led  to  the  Russo- 
Turkish  war,  a  howl  of  indignation  went  up  from  the  phi¬ 
lanthropists  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  but  especially 
from  the  Radical  party  in  England,  against  the  Turkish 
government,  for  its  persecution  of  the  Slav  population  of 
the  Danubian  provinces.  Nor  do  I  think  that  the  general 


184 


HAIFA. 


public  have  yet  realized  the  fact  that  of  these  Slavs  more 
than  half  were  Moslem,  and  that  the  Turkish  government 
was  not  persecuting  them  more  than  it  was  persecuting 
any  other  of  its  subjects,  but  that  the  persecutors  of  the 
Slav  peasantry,  who  were  Christian,  were  the  Slav  aris¬ 
tocracy,  who  were  Moslem.  It  was,  in  fact,  not  a  question 
of  an  oppressed  nationality,  but  a  strictly  agrarian  question 
between  people  of  the  same  race.  When  it  was  settled  by 
handing  over  the  provinces  to  Austria,  the  Slav-Moslem 
aristocracy,  finding  themselves  in  their  turn  persecuted  by 
their  former  peasants  and  the  Christian  power  which  pro¬ 
tected  them,  migrated  to  the  more  congenial  rule  of  the 
sultan.  So  the  curious  spectacle  is  presented  of  a  Slav  pop¬ 
ulation  migrating  from  Austrian  rule  to  Asia,  in  order  to  be 
under  a  Moslem  government. 

Close  beside  the  new  Bosnian  colony  there  are  planted  in 
the  plain  of  Sharon  two  or  three  colonies  of  Circassians. 
These  are  the  people  who  committed  the  Bulgarian  atroci¬ 
ties.  The  irony  of  fate  has  now  placed  them  within  three 
or  four  miles  of  colonists  belonging  to  the  very  race  they 
massacred.  They,  too,  fleeing  from  government  by  Chris¬ 
tians,  have  sought  refuge  under  the  sheltering  wing  of  the 
sultan,  where,  I  regret  to  say,  as  I  described  in  a  former  let¬ 
ter,  they  still  indulge  in  their  predatory  propensities.  In 
immediate  proximity  to  them  are  the  black  tents  of  a  tribe 
of  Turcomans.  They  belong  to  the  old  Seljuk  stock,  and 
the  cradle  of  their  tribe  gave  birth  to  the  present  rulers  of 
the  Turkish  Empire.  They  have  been  here  for  about  three 
hundred  years,  and  have  forgotten  the  Turkish  language, 
but  a  few  months  ago  a  new  migration  arrived  from  the 
mountains  of  Mesopotamia.  These  nomads  spoke  nothing 
but  Turkish,  and  hoped  to  find  a  warm  welcome  from  their 
old  tribesmen  on  the  plain  of  Sharon.  In  this  they  were 
disappointed,  and  they  have  now,  to  my  disgust,  pitched 
their  tents  on  some  of  the  spurs  of  Carmel,  where  their 
great  hairy  camels  and  their  own  baggy  breeches  contrast 
curiously  with  the  camels  and  costumes  of  the  Bedouins 
with  whom  we  are  familiar. 

Besides  the  Slavs,  the  Circassians,  and  the  Turcomans, 
we  have  the  Jewish  colony  of  Zimmarin,  distant  about 


THE  BOSNIAN  COLONY  AT  CAESAREA. 


185 


ten  miles  from  Caesarea;  the  German  colony  at  Haifa,  and 
the  Druse  villages  on  Carmel,  making,  with  the  Bedouins, 
the  negroes,  and  the  native  fellahin,  no  fewer  than  nine 
different  races  engaged  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  in  this 
neighbourhood. 


CiESAREA. 


Daliet-el-Carmel,  Oct.  2. — The  habit  of  tourists  of  vis¬ 
iting  only  those  spots  in  Palestine  called  holy  places,  or  to 
which  some  striking  Biblical  association  is  attached,  causes 
them  to  neglect  ruins  of  the  highest  historical  interest,  and 
which  are  often  as  well  worth  seeing  from  a  picturesque  as 
from  an  archaeological  point  of  view.  They  make  an  effort 
to  go  to  Nazareth,  which  differs  in  no  respect  from  an  ordi¬ 
nary  Syrian  town,  and  wThich  does  not  boast  a  single  object 
of  antiquarian  interest,  while  they  omit  from  their  pro¬ 
gramme,  because  it  is  not  included  in  the  books,  a  ruin 
like  Caesarea,  a  city  unsurpassed  for  grandeur  and  magnifi¬ 
cence  by  anything  in  Palestine  when  Herod  raised  it  to  the 
dignity  of  a  metropolis,  and  the  scene  of  many  important 
events,  both  Biblical  and  historical.  Here  Peter  baptized 
the  first  Gentile  convert  to  Christianity;  here  Philip  lived 
with  his  four  daughters,  engaged  in  missionary  work; 
here  Paul  preached  before  Felix,  and  “  almost  persuaded” 
Agrippa  to  become  a  Christian.  It  was  in  the  theatre,  the 
remains  of  which  are  still  to  be  seen,  that  Herod  made  his 
oration  to  the  multitude  when  “  the  angel  of  the  Lord 
smote  him,  and  he  was  eaten  of  worms  and  gave  up  the 
ghost.”  It  was  in  the  streets  of  Caesarea  that,  on  the  occa¬ 
sion  of  a  quarrel  between  the  Greek  and  Jewish  population, 
twenty  thousand  Jews  wrnre  massacred.  Here  the  celebrat¬ 
ed  historians  Eusebius  and  Procopius  were  born,  and  here 
was  found,  when  the  city  was  taken  by  the  crusaders,  the 
hexagonal  vase  of  green  crystal  which  was  supposed  to  con¬ 
tain  the  Holy  Grail. 

The  old  Roman  wall  can  be  traced  for  a  mile  and  a  half, 
enclosing  an  area  strewn  with  the  remains  of  a  theatre,  hip¬ 
podrome,  temple,  aqueducts,  and  mole ;  while  a  second  line 
of  fortification,  still  in  admirable  preservation,  and  over 


CAESAREA. 


187 


half  a  mile  in  extent,  marks  the  enceinte  of  the  old  Crusad¬ 
ing  fortress,  with  its  castle  and  donjon  keep,  its  cathedral, 
its  Northern  church,  and  harbour.  This  tendency  on  the 
part  of  travellers  is  the  more  to  be  regretted  as  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  of  examining  these  extensive  ruins  is  now  about  to 
pass  away,  never  again  to  return. 

The  Slav  colonists,  whose  immigration  I  described  in  my 
last  letter,  are  laying  out  broad  streets  right  across  the  most 
interesting  ruins,  using  the  old  foundations,  appropriating 
the  beautiful  masonrv,  the  white  stones  which  formed  the 
temple  built  by  Herod,  and  the  brown  limestone  blocks  of 
the  cathedral  of  the  crusaders,  quarrying  into  ancient  build¬ 
ings  beneath  the  surface  of  the  ground,  levelling  down  the 
ruins  at  one  place,  levelling  them  up  in  another,  and  so  ut¬ 
terly  transforming  the  whole  picturesque  area  that  it  will 
soon  be  no  longer  recognizable.  Within  five  months  over 
twenty  good  stone  houses  have  been  built,  some  of  three 
stories  high,  others  with  vaults  for  merchandise  and  stor¬ 
ing  grain;  in  some  cases  the  old  Crusading  vaults,  evident¬ 
ly  used  for  the  same  purpose,  have  been  made  available. 
The  dwellings  are  being  built  on  the  plan  which  renders  the 
towns  of  the  Moslem  Slavs  of  European  Turkey  so  dull  and 
uninteresting;  they  are  all  enclosed  with  courtyards,  the 
high  stone  walls  of  which  jealously  guard  the  harems  of  the 
proprietors.  In  this  respect  these  western  Mohammedans 
are  far  more  particular  than  the  Arabs,  who  allow  their 
women  comparative  freedom;  but  during  the  period  of  my 
stay  in  Caesarea  I  did  not  see  one  of  the  female  colonists. 

Their  male  belongings,  however,  were  most  hospitable, 
especially  when  they  found  that  I  knew  their  country  and 
was  familiar  with  Mostar  and  Cognitza,  in  the  neighbour¬ 
hood  of  which  towns  had  been  their  former  homes.  They 
were  the  landed  aristocracy  of  their  own  country,  and  have, 
therefore,  brought  a  considerable  amount  of  wealth  with 
them.  A  large  tract  of  the  most  fertile  land  of  the  plain  of 
Sharon  has  been  donated  to  them  by  the  Turkish  govern¬ 
ment,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  country  will  gain 
by  their  settlement  in  it.  In  manners  and  costume  they 
form  a  marked  contrast  to  the  natives,  who  are  evidently 
much  impressed  by  their  wealth  and  dignity. 


188 


HAIFA. 


The  lower  or  peasant  class  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina 
were  not  obliged,  when  the  country  was  conquered  by  the 
Moslems,  to  change  their  religion,  and  they  have  continued 
Christians;  while  the  descendants  of  their  masters,  who  re¬ 
mained  the  proprietors  of  the  soil,  became  bigoted  Mussul¬ 
mans.  The  consequence  has  been  that  now  that  the  coun¬ 
try  has  been  handed  over  to  the  Austrians,  the  Christian 
peasantry  have  naturally  found  protection  from  the  author¬ 
ities  against  the  oppression  of  their  former  masters,  who, 
unable  to  endure  the  humiliation  of  seeing  the  tables  turned, 
and  their  old  servants  enabled  to  defy  them  with  impunity, 
have  sold  all  their  possessions  and  migrated  to  the  domin¬ 
ions  of  the  sultan,  rather  than  endure  the  indignities  to 
which  they  declare  they  were  exposed  from  their  new  Chris¬ 
tian  rulers  and  their  old  Christian  serfs — very  much  on  the 
same  principle  that  the  Southern  States  became  intolerable 
to  some  of  the  landed  proprietors  after  the  emancipation  of 
their  slaves.  Whether  they  will  agree  with  their  Circas¬ 
sian  neighbours  remains  yet  to  be  seen.  They  form  the 
avant  garde  of  a  much  larger  migration  which  is  to  follow 
as  soon  as  arrangements  can  be  made  to  receive  them.  One 
of  the  leading  men,  who  has  opened  a  store,  assigned  me  an 
unfinished  house  as  a  lodging,  and  said  that  he  intended  to 
enlarge  it  into  a  hotel  for  travellers. 

It  is  worthy  of  the  notice  of  intending  travellers  in  Pal¬ 
estine  next  season  that  they  can  now  drive  the  whole  way, 
if  they  wish,  in  wagons  belonging  to  the  German  colonists, 
from  Jerusalem  to  Nazareth,  in  four  easy  days,  instead  of 
having  to  ride,  and  camp  in  tents  as  heretofore.  There  are 
excellent  hotels  at  Jaffa.  The  next  stopping-place  would, 
now  that  accommodation  is  promised  there,  be  Caesarea,  the 
next  day  to  Haifa,  where  the  hotel  is  being  enlarged  and 
put  on  a  thoroughly  comfortable  and  European  basis,  and 
the  next  day  to  Nazareth,  where  good  quarters  can  be  ob¬ 
tained  at  the  convent,  but  where,  if  this  route  comes  to  be 
adopted,  a  hotel  will  doubtless  shortly  be  built.  As  soon 
as  travellers  give  up  their  present  expensive  habit  of  travel¬ 
ling  through  Palestine  with  tents,  the  hotel  accommodation 
will  be  increased,  and  the  existing  carriage  roads,  as  well  as 
the  vehicles  which  traverse  them,  be  improved.  The  gov- 


CAESAREA. 


189 


eminent  has  recently  determined  to  oonstruct  a  carriage 
road  along  the  coast  from  Acre  to  Beyrout  and  Tripoli, 
which,  if  it  is  carried  out,  will  alter  all  the  existing  condi¬ 
tions  of  travel. 

The  most  striking  features  of  the  ruins  of  Caesarea  are 
the  Crusading  castle  and  the  old  Roman  mole.  The  former 
is  built  upon  a  long,  narrow  reef  or  breakwater,  partly  arti¬ 
ficial,  which  runs  out  into  the  sea  for  one  hundred  and  sixty 
yards,  forming  the  southern  side  of  the  harbour,  while  the 
northern  side  is  formed  by  a  sort  of  mole  or  jetty  more  than 
two  hundred  feet  long,  which  is  composed  of  some  sixty  or 
seventy  prostrate  columns  lying  side  by  side  in  the  water 
like  rows  of  stranded  logs.  They  are  from  five  to  twenty 
feet  in  length,  and  average  about  eighteen  inches  in  diame¬ 
ter.  I  never  in  my  life  before  saw  such  an  array  of  granite 
pillars  so  closely  piled  together  or  used  for  such  a  purpose. 
Indeed,  to  judge  by  those  which  remain,  Caesarea  must  have 
been  a  city  of  columns.  The  crusaders  used  them  to  thor¬ 
ough-bind  their  walls,  from  which  the  butts  project  like 
rows  of  cannon  from  the  side  of  a  man-of-war.  They  must 
have  built  many  hundreds  of  old  Roman  columns  thus  into 
their  fortification. 

The  Crusading  wall  enclosing  the  town  rises  from  a  moat 
which  is  about  forty  feet  wide,  but,  being  much  filled  in 
with  rubbish,  is  not  more  than  five  or  six  feet  deep.  The 
wall  itself  is  about  nine  feet  thick,  with  buttresses  at  inter¬ 
vals  which  are  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet  long  and  project 
from  twenty  to  twenty-six  feet;  but  it  is  especially  in  the 
castle  and  donjon,  which  is  built  out  into  the  sea  on  the 
projecting  reef,  that  the  columns  are  used  as  thorough-bonds. 
Some  of  these  are  of  red  granite,  others  of  gray.  The  Bos¬ 
nian  colonists  are  perching  a  cafe  on  the  ruins  of  the  old 
donjon,  immediately  above  two  magnificent  prostrate  col¬ 
umns  of  red  granite,  nine  feet  long  and  four  in  diameter. 
I  observed  here  also  a  finely  polished  block  of  red  granite 
over  six  feet  square  and  three  feet  six  inches  thick.  There 
is  also  a  curious  double  tessellated  pavement,  evidently  of 
two  periods,  as  the  upper  tesserae  are  at  least  six  inches 
above  the  lower  ones.  I  am  afraid,  as  the  masons  are  work¬ 
ing  immediately  above  them,  they  will  soon  disappear,  as 


190 


HAIFA. 


will  also  a  beautiful  carved  capital  in  white  marble.  I 
scrambled  up  to  the  top  of  this  picturesque  ruin,  where  the 
rib  of  the  groined  roof  of  the  upper  chamber  still  remains 
supported  on  a  corbel  in  the  form  of  a  human  head,  and 
looked  out  of  the  pointed,  arched  window  sheer  down  sev¬ 
enty  feet  on  the  sea,  beating  against  the  base  of  the  sea 
wall.  The  mouth  of  the  small  artificial  harbour  is  about 
two  hundred  yards  across,  but  the  latter  is  too  much  ex¬ 
posed  and  too  small  ever  to  be  of  much  value. 

Among  the  Roman  remains,  the  hippodrome,  the  theatre, 
and  the  aqueduct  are  the  most  interesting.  The  first  is  a 
sunken  level  space  about  three  hundred  yards  long  by  one 
hundred  wide,  surrounded  by  a  mound,  and  in  the  middle 
are  three  truncated  blocks  of  red  granite,  which,  when  stand¬ 
ing  on  each  other,  must  have  formed  a  conical  pillar  about 
nine  feet  high  and  seven  feet  diameter  at  the  base.  There 
is  also  another  fine  block  of  red  granite  nearly  forty  feet 
long  and  four  feet  in  diameter,  which  has  been  broken. 
The  theatre  is  a  semicircular  building  of  masonry  in  an  im¬ 
mense  artificial  mound,  surrounded  by  a  trench  near  the  sea. 
It  is  mentioned  by  Josephus  as  capable  of  containing  a  large 
number  of  persons.  Indeed,  the  account  by  this  historian 
of  the  building  of  this  city  by  Herod  the  Great,  which  I 
have  just  been  reading,  is  most  interesting.  It  occupied 
twelve  years,  and  was  finished  thirteen  years  before  Christ. 
He  says  that  the  stones  of  which  the  sea  wall  was  built  were 
fifty  feet  in  length,  eighteen  in  breadth,  and  nine  in  depth. 

For  nearly  six  hundred  years  it  was  a  Christian  city  and 
the  seat  of  an  archbishop,  then  for  five  hundred  years  it  fell 
under  Moslem  rule,  and  an  Arab  traveller  in  a.d.  1035  de¬ 
scribes  it  as  “  an  agreeable  city,  irrigated  with  running  wa¬ 
ter  and  planted  with  date  palms  and  oranges,  surrounded 
by  a  strong  wall  pierced  by  an  iron  gate,  and  containing  a 
fine  mosque.”  Then  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  it  re¬ 
mained  a  Crusading  stronghold,  while  its  final  and  complete 
destruction  by  the  Sultan  Bibars  took  place  in  1265  a.d., 
since  which  time  it  has  remained  a  howling  wilderness.  I 
have  dwelt  somewhat  fully  on  the  present  aspect  of  the 
ruins,  as  the  transformation  they  are  undergoing  will  soon 
be  complete. 


CAESAREA. 


191 


From  Caesarea  I  followed  the  coast  northward  with  the 
high-level  aqueduct,  which  in  places  is  still  in  tolerably 
good  preservation,  on  my  right.  This  aqueduct  was  the 
chief  source  of  the  water  supply  for  the  inhabitants.  It 
was  eight  miles  long,  and  at  one  point  tunnels  the  rock  for 
a  quarter  of  a  mile,  thirty  feet  below  its  surface.  There 
was  also  a  low-level  aqueduct,  three  miles  long,  which  drew 
its  water  supply  from  the  Crocodile  River.  At  some  sea¬ 
sons  this  is  a  dangerous  stream  to  ford,  though  I  experi¬ 
enced  no  difficulty.  That  it  is  not  misnamed  I  possess  indis¬ 
putable  proof,  for  a  few  weeks  ago  an  Arab  acquaintance 
presented  me  with  a  piece  of  crocodile  skin  about  a  foot 
square,  cut  from  the  hide  of  a  crocodile  which  he  himself 
helped  to  kill  in  this  river.  Passing  Tantura,  which  also 
contains  some  Crusading  ruins  and  rock-cut  tombs,  I  reached 
the  Jewish  colony  of  Zimmarin,  which  I  had  not  visited  for 
eighteen  months,  and  where  I  was  pleased  to  find  the  colony 
in  a  thriving  condition,  the  colonists  hopeful,  industrious, 
and  contented,  the  crops  promising  fairly,  and  their  prog¬ 
ress  only  checked  by  the  refusal  of  the  government  to  al¬ 
low  them  to  build  permanent  dwellings,  a  difficulty  which 
it  is  hoped  may  be  overcome  by  a  judicious  display  of  firm¬ 
ness  and  patience. 


VILLAGE  FEUDS. 


Daliet-el-Carmel,  Oct.  15. — In  order  to  really  under¬ 
stand  this  country,  to  become  acquainted  with  the  inner 
life  of  its  inhabitants,  to  familiarize  one’s  self  with  their 
manners  and  customs,  their  necessities,  and  their  aspirations, 
such  as  they  are,  and  to  arrive  at  a  true  estimate  of  the  na¬ 
tional  character,  it  is  needful  to  remove  one’s  self  from  any 
centre  of  so-called  civilization,  however  crude,  and  to  live 
among  them,  as  I  have  been  doing  for  the  last  three  months 
and  a  half,  not  as  a  stranger,  but  as  a  villager  owning  prop¬ 
erty,  identified  with  their  local  interests,  and  with  a  will 
to  afford  them  such  practical  counsel  and  aid  as  may  lie  in 
one’s  power.  People  wonder  what  I  can  find  to  do  in  a  re¬ 
mote  Druse  village  in  the  back  parts  of  Carmel;  but  in 
practice  the  days  are  not  long  enough  to  deal  with  the 
varied  interests  that  crowd  into  them. 

Scarcely  a  day  passes  that  visitors  do  not  arrive  from 
some  of  the  surrounding  villages — sheiks  of  high  or  low  de¬ 
gree,  as  the  case  may  be — generally  with  polite  invitations 
that  I  should  return  their  visits,  which  I  know  from  expe¬ 
rience  means  a  financial  proposition  of  some  sort  in  reserve, 
for  all  the  villages  are  more  or  less  embarrassed  in  their  pe¬ 
cuniary  circumstances,  and  have  been  so  victimized  by  the 
native  money-lenders  of  Haifa  that  they  eagerly  turn  tow¬ 
ards  any  one  who  they  think  possesses  bowels  of  compas¬ 
sion. 

The  return  visits  which  these  invitations  involve  are  often 
highly  characteristic  in  their  attendant  circumstances,  and 
in  the  varied  incidents  which  accompany  them;  and,  besides, 
they  give  one  an  opportunity  of  becoming  minutely  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  neighbourhood,  and  afford  one  an  insight 
into  the  motives  by  which  Oriental  human  nature  is  actuated. 
There  is,  for  instance,  a  village  about  four  miles  from  here, 


VILLAGE  FEUDS. 


193 


so  beautifully  situated  among  its  olive  groves,  as  seen  from 
a  distance,  that  I  had  long  intended  paying  it  a  visit,  and 
wondered  why  its  sheik  had  never  come  to  make  my  ac¬ 
quaintance.  The  mystery  was  explained  one  day  by  an  old 
woman  whose  extreme  poverty  had  induced  me  to  employ 
her  as  a  water-carrier.  On  asking  how  she  had  become  so 
destitute,  she  said  that  she  was  a  widow,  and  that  her  only 
son  and  support  had  been  waylaid  and  murdered  some 
months  previously  by  some  of  the  young  men  of  the  village 
in  question.  All  her  efforts  to  obtain  justice  had  been  un¬ 
availing,  and  since  then  the  two  villages  had  not  been  on 
visiting  terms. 

As  none  of  the  inhabitants  of  Dalieh  would  accompany 
me,  I  found  my  own  way  one  day  to  the  village,  to  try  and 
discover  the  rights  of  the  story.  I  was  received  with  great 
politeness  by  a  tall,  gentlemanlike  man,  whom  I  supposed 
to  be  the  sheik,  but  who  turned  out  to  be  the  very  individ¬ 
ual  who  had  been  accused  of  the  murder.  Soon  the  sheik 
and  a  number  of  village  notables  arrived,  and,  seated  around 
the  neatly-matted  guest-chamber,  we  exchanged  compli¬ 
ments  and  discussed  the  topics  of  the  day.  These  all  turn 
upon  the  payment  of  the  new  government  taxes;  and  the 
price  of  wheat  this  year  has  been  so  low  that  the  unhappy 
peasantry  are  driven  to  their  wits’  end,  and  finally  to  usu¬ 
rious  money-lenders,  to  obtain  the  necessary  cash.  In  this 
emergency  I  am  appealed  to  in  every  direction  for  assist¬ 
ance,  and  I  was  well  aware  that  our  interview  on  this  occa¬ 
sion  would  not  terminate  without  the  usual  demand. 

When  it  came,  I  saw  my  chance  for  alluding  to  the  deli¬ 
cate  subject  of  the  murder,  and  the  objections  I  entertained 
to  lending  money  to  people  who  were  in  the  habit  of  mur¬ 
dering  their  neighbours.  They  admitted  the  murder,  which 
had  been  attended  with  robbery,  but  my  host  denied  that 
he  had  been  in  any  way  implicated,  though  he  had  unjustly 
suffered  several  months’  imprisonment  on  suspicion,  and  had 
only  been  finally  released  on  payment  of  a  heavy  sum  as 
backsheesh.  It  seems  that  the  evidence  as  to  who  the  cul¬ 
prit  really  was  rested  on  the  dying  deposition  of  the  victim, 
who  had  been  attacked  by  four  men,  all  of  whom  he  named 
on  his  deathbed.  On  the  other  hand,  my  host  had  succeeded 
13 


194 


HAIFA. 


in  proving  an  alibi.  The  real  culprit  had,  he  said,  escaped, 
and  had  never  ventured  back  to  the  village. 

Under  these  circumstances  I  refused  any  loan  of  money, 
unless  the  notables  of  the  village  would  come  to  Dalieh, 
tender  their  humble  apologies,  offer  a  money  indemnity  to 
the  mother  of  the  murdered  man,  and  effect  a  complete 
reconciliation.  This,  according  to  Arab  custom,  is  a  solemn 
ceremony,  which  must  be  performed  in  the  presence  of  the 
notables  of  neighbouring  villages;  but  it  yet  remained  to 
be  seen  whether  the  indemnity  question  could  be  arranged 
at  Dalieh,  as  the  man  who  said  he  had  been  unjustly  ac¬ 
cused  declared  that  he  had  already  suffered  so  much,  in 
person  and  in  purse,  that  he  was  indisposed  to  do  much  in 
that  line.  The  poor  widow,  in  spite  of  her  destitution,  was 
still  more  intractable;  she  thirsted  for  vengeance,  for  which 
she  said  no  money  could  compensate.  However,  I  have 
hopes  of  bringing  them  both  to  reason,  and  so  healing  the 
feud  which  extends  to  all  the  population  of  both  villages. 
Meantime  the  loan  stands  in  abeyance. 

There  would,  indeed,  be  a  good  opening  for  a  professional 
peacemaker  in  these  villages,- where  feuds  are  bitter  and 
prevalent,  not  merely  between  different  villages,  but  be¬ 
tween  rival  sheiks  in  the  same  locality.  There  are  almost 
always  two,  and  sometimes  three,  of  these  in  each  vil¬ 
lage  who  are  not  on  speaking  terms,  and  who  each  have 
their  partisans,  so  that  the  opposing  factions  keep  them¬ 
selves  entirely  aloof  from  each  other.  More  than  once  I 
have  had  occasion  to  call  on  the  same  day  on  two  rival 
sheiks.  In  that  case  one  escorts  me  until  he  sees  his  enemy 
in  the  distance.  He  then  takes  leave  of  me,  and  I  stand 
still  until  the  other  comes  up  to  take  me  in  charge.  These 
sheiks,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  often  combine  with  the  money¬ 
lenders  against  the  interests  of  their  own  fellow-villagers. 
The  mode  by  which  a  money-lender  obtains  possession  of  a 
village  is  simple;  he  goes  to  the  sheik,  and  says:  “  You  and 
your  village  are  unable  to  meet  the  government  demands; 
if  you  will  persuade  your  village  to  borrow  from  me  at 
forty  per  cent.,  I  will  give  you  so  much  commission,  and  if 
at  the  end  of  three  years  you  can  manage  irretrievably  to 
ruin  your  villagers,  so  that  I  can  come  down  upon  them  and 


VILLAGE  FEUDS. 


195 


obtain  possession  of  the  village  in  satisfaction  of  my  debt 
for  half  its  value,  your  profit  shall  be  so  much,  and  you 
shall  retain  such  a  share  of  the  village  lands.”  As  the 
sheiks  wield  an  unbounded  influence  over  their  own  fac¬ 
tion,  this  would  be  an  easy  operation  were  it  not  for  the 
rival  sheik,  who  is  in  negotiation  with  a  rival  money¬ 
lender.  When  two  money-lenders  take  to  fighting  over 
a  village  there  is  some  chance  for  the  villagers,  and  from 
this  point  of  view  the  feuds  of  their  sheiks  are  not  an  un¬ 
mixed  evil. 

Where  a  sheik  is  supreme,  as  at  Dalieh,  he  has  practically 
the  fortunes  of  the  villagers  in  his  hands,  and  he  must  be 
watched  to  see  that  he  uses  his  influence  and  authority  just¬ 
ly.  The  only  man  in  a  position  to  watch  him  is  the  person 
upon  whom  he  depends  for  assistance  to  meet  the  govern¬ 
ment  demands.  If  this  individual  happens  to  be  content 
with  a  moderate  rate  of  interest,  and  to  have  no  ulterior  de¬ 
signs  upon  the  village  itself,  it  is  evident  that  he  may  have 
it  in  his  power  to  do  a  great  deal  of  good.  The  villagers 
are  quite  astonished  if  one  comes  to  them  and  says,  “I  do 
not  want  your  village,  I  only  want  your  good-will.  I  desire 
to  help  you  out  of  your  financial  scrape,  and  I  am  willing  to 
lend  you  money  at  the  legal  rate  of  interest  if  you  will  fur¬ 
nish  me  with  the  necessary  security.”  Any  one  saying  this 
finds  at  once  that  he  has  arrayed  against  him  the  money¬ 
lenders,  who  take  three  times  the  legal  rate  of  interest;  the 
government  officials,  who  go  shares  with  the  money-lenders; 
and,  in  many  instances,  the  village  sheiks  themselves,  who, 
of  course,  find  their  interest  lies  rather  with  these  two 
classes  than  with  the  unhappy  villagers.  These  latter,  ac¬ 
customed  to  be  plundered  all  around,  naturally  do  not  know 
whom  to  trust,  and  are  apt  to  look  with  suspicion  on  a  new 
proposal,  however  favourable  and  disinterested  it  may  seem. 
The  obstacles,  therefore,  to  the  working-out  of  improved 
conditions  by  any  single  man,  even  in  the  case  of  one  vil¬ 
lage,  seem  almost  insuperable,  and  can  only  be  overcome 
by  much  personal  intercourse  with  the  villagers  them¬ 
selves. 

The  Dru  ses  are  sensitive  to  kindness,  and  grateful  for  it, 
and  as  there  are  generally  some  sick  in  the  village,  and 


19G 


HAIFA. 


quack  doctoring,  provided  one  treads  cautiously,  is  better 
than  none,  we  do  a  good  deal  of  empirical  practice,  and  our 
efforts  have  met  with  such  success  that  we  are  obtaining  a 
somewhat  alarming  reputation.  Of  course,  we  come  across 
difficult  cases,  as,  for  instance,  the  sheik’s  daughter.  She  is 
rather  a  nice-looking  girl  of  eighteen,  with  a  crick  in  her 
neck  and  an  asthmatic  affection.  On  asking  how  long  she 
had  been  ill,  we  were  informed  that  her  mother,  on  the  oc¬ 
casion  of  her  birth,  was  so  angry  at  finding  the  child  was  a 
girl  and  not  a  boy,  that  she  threw  her  out  of  the  window, 
and  she  had  never  been  well  since.  Cases  of  this  sort  we 
don’t  attempt  to  grapple  with,  but  I  have  ceased  to  wonder 
at  the  sheik  having  taken  a  dislike  to  the  old  lady.  Indeed, 
my  own  feelings  towards  her  have  entirely  changed  since 
hearing  of  this  episode,  and,  although  it  happened  eighteen 
years  ago,  I  treat  her  with  comparative  coolness. 

Why  the  sheik  hesitates  so  long  about  divorcing  her  I 
fail  to  understand,  more  especially  as  he  is  anxious  to  marry 
a  young  and  handsome  girl.  I  have  discovered,  by  the 
way,  that  divorced  people  are  never  allowed  to  meet  again, 
even  in  the  street,  after  the  separation  has  finally  taken 
place.  I  saw  a  young  friend  of  mine,  in  a  fit  of  passion,  di¬ 
vorce  his  wife  last  year.  She  was  young  and  pretty.  He 
married  again,  but  has  already  repented,  and  wants  to  di¬ 
vorce  his  present  and  remarry  his  first  wife,  whom  he  has 
never  seen  since;  but  Druse  law  is  inexorable  on  this  point. 
There  was  a  meeting  of  elders  on  the  subject,  but  they  de¬ 
cided  that  it  was  impossible.  So  now,  when  this  rash 
young  man  sees  the  former  partner  of  his  life  at  the  other 
end  of  the  street,  he  is  obliged  hurriedly  to  turn  around  and 
walk  the  other  way,  with  a  sadly  beating  heart  and  repent¬ 
ant  spirit. 

Some  weeks  ago  we  opened  a  boys’  school  at  Dalieh, 
where  English  and  Arabic  were  taught.  In  a  few  days  we 
had  an  average  attendance  of  over  fifty  children,  while  we 
received  applications  from  more  than  twenty  girls,  which 
we  were  making  arrangements  to  satisfy,  as  the  desire 
which  the  parents  manifested  to  have  their  children  edu¬ 
cated  was  so  strong  that  we  felt  it  should  be  encouraged 
in  every  possible  way.  One  day,  however,  a  summons  ar- 


VILLAGE  FEUDS. 


197 


rived  for  the  sheik  to  appear  before  the  authorities,  when  he 
was  informed  that  a  fine  of  $250  wrould  be  levied  on  every 
child  who  ventured  to  go  to  school;  a  threat  which,  to  my 
great  regret,  most  effectually  extinguished  that  humble  in¬ 
stitution. 


THE  ARISTOCRACY  OF  MOUNT  CARMEL. 


Daliet-el- Carmel,  Oct.  30.  —  I  have  been  making  ac¬ 
quaintance  with  some  of  my  neighbours,  and  will  take  you 
with  me  to  call  upon  what  in  England  would  be  called  the 
leading  members  of  the  county  aristocracy.  They  are  the 
blue  blood  of  this  region  of  country,  the  families  which  in 
the  early  part  of  the  present  century  exercised  power  of  life 
and  death,  and  supreme  control,  over  the  inhabitants  for  many 
miles  around;  who  thought  nothing  of  calling  out  their  re¬ 
tainers  and  resisting  the  constituted  authority,  whether  it 
was  that  exercised  by  the  various  pachas  of  Acre,  who, 
though  nominally  Turkish  governors,  were  themselves 
quasi-independent,  or  the  more  iron  rule  of  the  Egyptian 
conqueror,  Ibrahim  Pacha,  to  which,  however,  they  were 
eventually  forced  to  succumb. 

One  of  these  families  lives  at  a  village  about  two  hours’ 
ride  from  here.  In  response  to  a  letter  couched  in  the  most 
flowery  Oriental  hyperbole,  in  which  my  rank  is  exalted,  my 
virtues  are  exaggerated,  and  the  beneficent  warmth  which 
my  presence  is  supposed  to  radiate  is  dwelt  upon,  I  determine 
to  shed  it  upon  the  writer  of  the  letter;  in  other  words,  to  pay 
him  a  visit  in  the  gardens  to  which  he  has  invited  me.  Our 
way  lies  down  a  wild,  romantic  gorge  which  leads  to  a  valley 
situated  among  the  lower  spurs  of  Carmel,  beyond  the  con¬ 
fines  of  the  mountain  proper,  where  the  country  is  broken 
up  by  volcanic  action  into  chasms  and  precipices,  well 
adapted  for  defensive  purposes,  and  admirably  calculated  to 
be  the  stronghold  of  a  not  over-scrupulous  tribal  chief.  The 
village  itself  is  situated  upon  a  high  conical  mound,  rising 
some  three  hundred  feet  above  the  plain;  and  towering  above 
the  surrounding  houses  is  the  high,  two-storied,  half-castel¬ 
lated  mansion.  It  is  not  thither  that  I  am  at  present  bound, 
but  to  a  narrow  valley  about  a  mile  distant  from  it,  which  is 


.  THE  ARISTOCRACY  OF  MOUNT  CARMEL. 


199 


wedged  in  between  frowning  precipices,  and  is  a  bright  green 
strip,  in  delightful  contrast  to  the  gray,  overhanging  crags, 
for  it  is  a  dense  mass  of  orange,  lemon,  fig,  pomegranate, 
olive,  quince,  and  other  fruit-trees,  the  result  of  a  crystal 
fountain  which  gushes  from  the  rock  and  fertilizes  this  fairy¬ 
like  scene. 

These  are  the  summer  gardens  of  my  host,  and  from  them, 
as  he  sees  me  approach,  he  issues,  with  several  of  his  retain¬ 
ers,  and  leads  me  to  an  arbour  of  overhanging  trees,  whose 
dense  foliage  forms  an  impenetrable  shade  against  the  noon¬ 
day  sun.  Here  carpets  have  been  spread,  cushions  arranged, 
narghiles  and  coffee  have  been  prepared,  and  the  circle  is 
formed  and  the  compliments  interchanged  which  are  the  in¬ 
variable  prelude  to  an  Eastern  entertainment.  Soon  appear, 
on  prancing  horses,  a  picturesque  group  of  men  in  white 
flowing  abbayes ,  or  transparent  summer  robes,  which  flutter 
gracefully  in  the  wind.  They  are  richly  embroidered,  and  the 
horses  are  gayly  comparisoned ;  these  are  the  brothers,  neph¬ 
ews,  and  other  members  of  my  host’s  family.  One  of  them 
is  a  holy  man,  who  has  studied  theology  in  the  celebrated 
seat  of  Moslem  learning,  the  College  of  El-Ahzar,  in  Cairo, 
and  he  is  much  respected  and  looked  up  to  in  consequence. 

Knowing  that  I  cannot  introduce  a  more  grateful  topic, 
and  anxious  to  stave  off  as  long  as  possible  the  financial  one, 
which  I  suspect  is  in  the  background,  I  ask  the  dignified 
group  of  narghile  smokers  by  which  I  am  surrounded  to  tell 
me  something  of  their  family  history.  About  four  hundred 
years  ago,  they  say,  their  ancestors  came  from  the  Hedjaz, 
beinsr  a  branch  of  the  tribe  of  Beni  Ab  Arabs,  whose  home 
were  the  deserts  near  Mecca,  and  who  were  closely  related 
to  the  family  of  Mohammed.  It  is  this  ancestral  connection 
with  the  Prophet  which  has  always  given  the  family  the 
great  prestige  and  consideration  which  it  has  enjoyed.  In 
those  days  they  came  into  the  country  as  conquerors,  and, 
settling  themselves  in  their  present  village,  soon  reduced  the 
surrounding  district  to  subjection,  and  continued  to  rule  it, 
nominally  subject  to  the  Pacha  of  Acre,  but  really  inde¬ 
pendently,  until  the  invasion  of  Palestine  by  Ibrahim  Pacha, 
when,  after  a  sturdy  resistance,  they  were  overcome,  and  the 
grandfather  of  my  host  was  executed  and  the  greater  part  of 


200 


HAIFA. 


their  lands  taken  from  them.  From  that  time  the  fortunes 
of  the  family  began  to  decline.  On  the  restoration  of  the 
country  to  the  sultan,  by  means  of  the  intervention  of  Eng¬ 
land,  they  derived  no  benefit.  The  Turkish  government 
took  care  not  to  re-establish  an  influence  which  in  former 
times  had  proved  so  formidable,  and,  indeed,  one  of  my  hosts 
had  spent  two  years  in  prison.  Some  say  it  was  because  he 
had  manifested  a  spirit  of  too  great  independence,  but  others 
allege  that  it  was  for  the  more  prosaic  reason  of  an  inability 
or  refusal  to  pay  his  debts. 

At  all  events,  when  the  money-lending  question  came  up, 
not  then,  but  on  the  occasion  of  a  return  visit  which  they 
afterwards  paid  me,  I  was  assured  by  those  who  ought  to 
know  that  my  picturesque,  hospitable,  dignified,  and  aristo¬ 
cratic  hosts  were — well,  I  won’t  exactly  repeat  what  it  was 
said  they  were,  but  they  were  not  just  the  kind  of  people 
that  one  would  select  to  lend  money  to.  This  grieved  me 
exceedingly,  not  because  I  wanted  to  lend  them  any,  but  be¬ 
cause  they  were  such  gentlemen;  in  fact,  I  have  been  there 
since,  and  been  very  royally  entertained  in  the  old  castle — 
where  the  guests’  room  is  gorgeously  furnished,  for  this  part 
of  the  world — in  order  to  make  my  peace  for  not  lending  them 
money;  for  it  is  considered  an  insult,  after  you  have  been  a 
man’s  guest  and  he  asks  you  to  accommodate  him  financially, 
if  you  refuse — which  is  perplexing  when  he  has  no  satisfac¬ 
tory  security  to  offer.  Now,  I  want  to  keep  on  good  terms 
with  this  powerful  and  fascinating  and  somewhat  scampish 
family  without  losing  my  money  to  them,  and  the  problem 
I  am  engaged  in  solving  is  how  to  do  it.  I  have  a  horrible 
suspicion  that  it  will  yet  be  solved  rather  to  their  satisfaction 
than  to  mine. 

Under  these  circumstances,  paying  aristocratic  visits  does 
not  seem  likely  to  be  an  altogether  profitable  occupation; 
but  they  are  not  always  attended  with  embarrassments  of 
this  nature.  I  have  other  aristocratic  friends,  who  live  about 
five  hours  distant  from  here.  They  are  also  originally  from 
the  Hedjaz;  they  also  claim  kinship  with  the  Prophet,  and 
they  also  once  ruled  a  large  tract  of  country.  In  fact,  the 
two  families  divided  the  whole  of  this  country  between  them, 
and  their  history  has  been  almost  identical. 


THE  ARISTOCRACY  OF  MOUNT  CARMEL. 


201 


My  visit  to  this  family  was  in  some  respects  highly  char¬ 
acteristic.  My  way  led  across  the  Ruhah,  or  “Breezy-land,” 
across  open,  rolling  downs,  fairly  watered,  and  covered  with 
the  remains  of  what  was  once  a  magnificent  oak  forest.  The 
trees  are  now  dotted  singly  over  it,  in  park-like  fashion. 
The  village  itself  was  beautifully  situated  at  an  elevation 
of  about  seven  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  on  the  side 
of  a  thickly  wooded  mountain,  twelve  hundred  feet  high. 
On  this  occasion  my  host,  who  came  out  to  meet  me,  led  me 
to  an  elevated  platform  in  front  of  the  village  mosque,  an 
unusually  imposing  edifice.  Here,  under  the  shade  of  a 
spreading  mulberry-tree,  were  collected  seven  brothers,  who 
represented  the  family,  and  about  fifty  other  members  of  it. 
They  were  in  the  act  of  prayer  when  I  arrived — indeed,  they 
are  renowned  for  their  piety.  Along  the  front  of  the  ter¬ 
race  was  a  row  of  water-bottles  for  ablutions,  behind  them 
mats  on  which  the  praying  was  going  forward,  and  behind 
the  worshippers  a  confused  mass  of  slippers.  When  they 
had  done  praying,  they  all  got  into  their  slippers.  It  was  a 
marvel  to  me  how  each  knew  his  own. 

They  led  me  to  what  I  supposed  was  a  place  of  honour, 
where  soft  coverlets  had  been  spread  near  the  door  of  the 
mosque.  We  formed  the  usual  squatting  circle,  and  were 
sipping  coffee,  when  suddenly  every  one  started  to  his  feet; 
a  dark,  active  little  man  seemed  to  dart  into  the  midst  of  us. 
Everybody  struggled  frantically  to  kiss  his  hand,  and  he 
passed  through  us  like  a  flash  to  the  other  end  of  the  plat¬ 
form,  followed  by  a  tall  negro,  whose  hand  everybody,  in¬ 
cluding  my  aristocratic  host,  seemed  also  anxious  to  kiss.  I 
had  not  recovered  from  my  astonishment  at  this  proceeding, 
when  I  received  a  message  from  the  new-comer  to  take  a 
place  by  his  side.  I  now  found  that  he  was  on  the  seat  of 
honour,  and  it  became  a  question,  until  I  knew  who  he  was, 
whether  I  should  admit  his  right  to  invite  me  to  it,  thus 
acknowledging  his  superiority  in  rank — etiquette  in  these 
matters  being  a  point  which  has  to  be  attended  to  in  the 
East,  however  absurd  it  may  seem  among  ourselves.  I  there¬ 
fore  for  the  moment  ignored  his  invitation,  and  asked  my 
host,  in  an  off-hand  way,  who  he  was.  He  informed  me  that 
he  was  a  mollah,  held  in  the  highest  consideration  for  his 


202 


HAIFA. 


learning  and  piety  all  through  the  country,  upon  which  he, 
in  fact,  levied  a  sort  of  religious  tax;  that  he  was  here  on  a 
visit,  and  that  in  his  own  home  he  was  in  the  habit  of  enter¬ 
taining  two  hundred  guests  a  night,  no  one  being  refused 
hospitality.  His  father  was  a  dervish,  celebrated  for  his 
miraculous  powers,  and  the  mantle  thereof  had  fallen  upon 
the  negro,  who  had  been  his  servant,  and  who  also  was  much 
venerated,  because  it  was  his  habit  to  go  to  sleep  in  the 
mosque,  and  be  spirited  away,  no  one  knew  whither,  in  the 
night;  in  fact,  he  could  become  invisible  almost  at  will. 

Under  these  circumstances,  and  seeing  that  I  should  seri¬ 
ously  embarrass  my  host  if  I  stood  any  longer  on  my  digni¬ 
ty,  I  determined  to  waive  it,  and  joined  the  saint.  He  re¬ 
ceived  me  with  supercilious  condescension,  and  wTe  exchanged 
compliments  till  dinner  was  announced,  when  my  host  asked 
whether  I  wished  to  dine  alone  or  with  the  world  at  large. 
As  the  saint  had  been  too  patronizing  to  be  strictly  polite,  I 
thought  I  would  assert  my  right  to  be  exclusive,  and  said  I 
would  dine  alone,  on  which  he,  with  a  polite  sneer,  remarked 
that  it  would  be  better  so,  as  he  had  an  objection  to  eating 
with  any  one  who  drank  wine,  to  which  I  retorted  that  I  had 
an  equal  objection  to  dining  with  those  who  ate  with  their 
lingers.  From  this  it  will  appear  that  my  relations  with  the 
holy  man  were  getting  somewhat  strained. 

I  was,  therefore,  supplied  with  a  pyramid  of  rice  and  six 
or  seven  elaborately  cooked  dishes  all  to  myself,  and  squatted 
on  one  mat,  while  a  few  yards  off  the  saint,  my  host,  and  all 
his  brothers  squatted  on  another.  When  they  had  finished 
their  repast  their  places  were  occupied  by  others,  and  I 
counted  altogether  more  than  fifty  persons  feeding  on  the 
mosque  terrace  at  my  host’s  expense.  Dinner  over,  they  all 
trooped  in  to  pray,  and  I  listened  to  the  monotonous  chant¬ 
ing  of  the  Koran  till  it  was  time  to  go  to  bed.  My  host  offered 
me  a  mat  in  the  mosque,  where  I  should  have  a  chance  of 
seeing  the  miraculous  disappearance  of  the  negro;  but  as  I 
had  no  faith  in  this,  and  a  great  deal  in  the  snoring  by  which 
I  should  be  disturbed,  I  slept  in  a  room  apart,  as  exclusively 
as  I  had  dined. 

I  was  surprised  next  morning  to  observe  a  total  change  in 
the  saint’s  demeanour.  All  the  supercilious  pride  of  the 


THE  ARISTOCRACY  OF  MOUNT  CARMEL. 


203 


previous  evening  had  vanished,  and  we  soon  became  most 
amiable  to  each  other.  That  he  was  a  fanatic  hater  of  the 
Giaour  I  felt  no  doubt,  but  for  some  reason  he  had  deemed 
it  politic  to  adopt  an  entirely  altered  demeanour.  It  was  an¬ 
other  illustration  of  the  somewhat  painful  lesson  which  one 
has  to  learn  in  one’s  intercourse  with  Orientals.  They  must 
never  be  allowed  to  outswagger  you. 


THE  JORDAN  VALLEY  CANAL. 


Haifa,  Nov.  10. — In  one  of  my  former  letters  I  described 
the  nature  of  the  concession  which  had  been  obtained  by 
some  capitalists  at  Beyrout  for  the  construction  of  a  railway 
from  Haifa  to  Damascus,  and  of  the  survey  of  the  line, 
which  had  already  been  completed  half-way  to  the  latter 
city.  The  matter  has  been  the  subject  of  a  good  deal  of 
financial  intrigue,  and  the  capital  which  was  sought  for  in 
London  has  not  been  forthcoming  in  consequence.  A  new 
element  of  uncertainty  has  just  been  imported  into  the  proj¬ 
ect  by  the  agitation  created  by  the  proposal  to  connect  the 
Red  Sea  with  the  Mediterranean  by  means  of  a  ship  canal, 
which,  commencing  at  Haifa,  should  be  cut  through  the 
plain  of  Esdraelon  to  the  valley  of  the  Jordan,  letting  the 
waters  of  the  Mediterranean  into  the  Glior,  as  that  vallev 
is  called,  and  connecting  the  lower  end  of  the  Dead  Sea 
with  the  Red  Sea  by  a  canal  which  should  debouch  at 
Akaba. 

This  project  originated  principally  among  British  ship¬ 
owners  and  capitalists,  who  have  hoped  in  this  way  to  de¬ 
stroy  the  monopoly  which  M.  de  Lesseps  claims  to  possess 
of  water  communication  between  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
Red  Sea  across  the  Isthmus  of  Suez.  As  the  proposed 
canal  does  not  touch  the  isthmus,  the  French  company 
would  have  no  ground  of  complaint.  As,  however,  great 
uncertainty  still  exists  as  to  the  practicability  of  the  scheme, 
a  sum  of  £10,000  has  been  subscribed  by  the  promoters  of 
the  proposed  company  to  make  the  preliminary  surveys,  and 
to  obtain  the  necessary  permission  from  the  sultan  to  do  so. 
According  to  the  first  accounts,  his  majesty  set  his  face 
against  any  survey  of  the  kind  proposed,  but  the  latest  ad¬ 
vices  would  go  to  show  that  he  has  changed  his  mind,  and 
it  would  seem  not  only  that  the  requisite  permission  has 


THE  JORDAN  VALLEY  CANAL. 


205 


been  granted,  but  that  the  surveying  party  are  actually  on 
their  way  to  Port  Said. 

It  will  now  be  interesting  to  consider,  by  the  light  of  our 
present  information,  what  are  the  chances  of  success,  what 
is  the  nature  of  the  obstacles  the  scheme  will  have  to  en¬ 
counter,  and  how  it  proposes  to  overcome  them,  so  far  as 
they  are  known.  In  the  first  place,  it  does  not  follow,  be¬ 
cause  the  sultan  has  granted  permission  for  the  survey,  that 
he  will  afterwards,  supposing  it  to  be  found  practicable, 
grant  a  firman  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  work.  The 
advantages  he  will  derive  from  it  are:  Easy  access  to  his 
dominions  in  Arabia,  which  extend  as  far  south  as  Aden; 
an  enormous  sum  of  money,  which  will  be  paid  to  him  in 
compensation  for  about  fifteen  hundred  square  miles  of  land 
submerged,  chiefly  government  property,  and  a  large  annual 
income  to  be  derived  from  tolls  on  the  canal,  and  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  extensive  tracts  of  fertile  country,  especially 
to  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  which  are  now  inaccessible  and 
unproductive.  That  such  a  canal  would  add  immensely  to 
the  resources  of  the  empire,  and  be  a  source  of  great  profit, 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  On  the  other  hand,  it  would  almost 
amount  to  the  virtual  annexation  of  Palestine  by  England, 
whose  influence  in  that  country,  backed  by  the  enormous 
expenditure  of  capital  which  would  be  involved,  would  be 
supreme.  It  is  a  question,  therefore,  whether  the  sultan 
would  consider  that  the  pecuniary  advantage  which  he 
would  gain  would  be  compensated  by  the  political  sacrifice 
which  would  have  to  be  incurred. 

In  regard  to  the  engineering  difficulties,  so  far  as  they 
are  known,  the  only  records  of  levels  which  we  have  of  the 
elevation  of  the  land  between  the  Red  Sea  and  the  Dead 
Sea  are  those  made  at  different  times  by  three  Frenchmen 
— Mons.  Lartet,  Mons.  Vigne,  and  Mons.  Luynes.  These 
only  differ  nineteen  feet — the  lowest  being  seven  hundred 
and  eighty-one  feet,  the  highest  eight  hundred;  but  it  must 
be  remembered  that  these  are  not  the  result  of  actual  sur¬ 
vey,  but  of  rough  estimates,  and  there  may  be  depressions 
in  the  dividing  ridge  which  may  have  escaped  these  gen¬ 
tlemen’s  observation.*  The  dividing  ridge  is  said  to  be  cal- 


*  Since  the  above  was  written  the  dividing  range  has  been  carefully  sur- 


206 


HAIFA. 


careons  rock — the  summit  level  distant  fifty-two  miles  from 
the  Red  Sea  and  fifty-eight  from  the  Dead  Sea,  which  is 
nearly  thirteen  hundred  feet  lower  than  the  level  of  the 
ocean — and  it  is  assumed  that  the  engineering  work  would 
be  facilitated  by  the  scour  which  would  be  caused  by  the 
sea  rushing  down  such  a  steep  incline  in  a  distance  of  one 
hundred  miles.  It  is  not,  however,  proposed  to  let  the  full 
force  of  the  ocean  in  from  this  end.  The  operation  of 
flooding  the  Jordan  valley  would  be  commenced  at  Haifa; 
from  this  point  to  the  sea-level  in  the  Ghor  is  only  twenty- 
five  miles.  The  highest  point  in  the  plain  of  Esdraelon  is 
one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  feet  above  the  sea.  Through 
this  it  is  proposed  to  cut  a  canal  two  hundred  feet  wide  and 
forty  feet  deep.  The  volume  of  water  thus  let  in,  it  is  cal¬ 
culated,  would  be  regulated  to  an  inflow  which  would  equal 
about  twenty  Jordans,  and,  allowing  for  evaporation,  it  is 
estimated  that  in  five  years  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  whole 
valley  of  the  Jordan  would  be  submerged  to  the  sea-level. 

The  effect  of  this  submergence  would  be,  of  course,  to 
bury  the  Dead  Sea  under  twelve  hundred  feet  of  ocean,  and 
to  create  an  inland  sea  about  ninety  miles  long  and  from 
four  to  six  wide.  Jericho,  Beisan  (the  ancient  Bethshean), 
and  Tiberias  would  be  the  principal  places  submerged,  be¬ 
sides  a  few  small  villages.  With  the  exception  of  Tiberias, 
none  of  these  are,  however,  of  any  importance.  Tiberias 
contains  a  population  of  over  three  thousand,  chiefly  Jews, 
and  a  Latin  and  Greek  monastery.  Apart  from  the  ques¬ 
tion  of  compensating  this  population,  and  paying  for  the 
fertile  lands  which  they  occupy,  a  very  important  political 
question  enters  into  consideration.  The  French  have  been 
the  protectors  of  the  Latin  monastery  at  Tiberias  from 
time  immemorial,  and  the  Russians  occupy  the  same  posi¬ 
tion  with  regard  to  the  Greek  monastery.  Are  these  two 
powers,  whose  interests  would  be  in  different  ways  vitally 
affected  by  the  success  of  the  scheme,  likely  to  be  induced 
to  consent  to  it  by  any  proposal  of  pecuniary  indemnifica¬ 
tion?  Its  success  would  utterly  ruin  the  Suez  Canal  and 
almost  extinguish  French  influence  in  Syria,  while  Russia, 

veyed,  and  the  lowest  part  found  to  be  between  six  and  seven  hundred  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  Red  Sea. 


THE  JORDAN  VALLEY  CANAL. 


207 


which  now  aims  at  the  annexation  of  Palestine  and  the  oc¬ 
cupation  of  Jerusalem,  where  her  influence  is  at  this  moment 
greater  than  that  of  any  other  European  nation,  would  find 
herself  practically  cut  off  from  it  by  an  inland  sea,  the  pri¬ 
vate  property  of  her  traditional  enemy.  In  both  countries 
the  governments  could  appeal  to  the  religious  sentiment  of 
the  people  to  support  them  in  resisting,  even  to  a  war  if 
necessary,  the  flooding  of  the  holy  places  at  Tiberias  which 
they  have  guarded  for  so  many  centuries. 

Nor  would  this  sentimental  feeling  be  confined  to  France 
and  Russia.  Even  in  England  and  America  there  would  be 
a  strong  objection  to  the  Lake  of  Tiberias,  with  the  historic 
sites  of  Capernaum  and  the  other  cities  on  its  margin,  which 
were  the  scenes  of  some  of  the  most  remarkable  ministra¬ 
tions  of  our  Lord,  being  buried  five  hundred  feet  deep  be¬ 
neath  the  sea.  Curiously  enough,  the  project  is  no  less 
keenly  supported  by  one  set  of  religionists  than  it  is  con¬ 
demned  by  the  other.  The  former  pin  their  faith  to  the 
prophecy  contained  in  the  forty-seventh  chapter  of  Ezekiel, 
eighth  to  tenth  verses,  where  it  is  predicted  that  “fishers 
shall  stand  upon  the  sea  from  En-gedi  even  unto  En-eglaim,” 
but  even  this  would  not  be  the  case  if  the  scheme  were  car¬ 
ried  out,  for  then  En-gedi  would  be  several  hundred  feet 
below  the  surface  of  the  sea. 

The  sanguine  supporters  of  the  scheme  maintain  that  it 
can  be  accomplished  for  eight  millions  sterling,  while  its  op¬ 
ponents  have  entered  upon  an  elaborate  calculation  to  prove 
that  the  lowest  figure  is  £225,573,648  and  some  odd  shillings. 
Supposing,  as  seems  not  impossible,  that  the  one  set  prove 
too  little,  and  the  other  too  much,  if  it  could  be  done  for 
fifty  millions  sterling  it  would  pay  a  fair  interest.  The 
last  year’s  receipts  of  the  Suez  Canal,  which  cost  twenty 
millions,  were  £4,800,000.  The  whole  length  of  the  canal 
would  be  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  of  which,  however, 
only  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  would  be  actual  cutting, 
but  cutting  of  a  nature  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  engi¬ 
neering.  My  own  impression  is  that,  both  from  a  political 
and  an  engineering  point  of  view,  it  will  be  found  to  be 
impracticable;  but  who  can  say  in  these  days  what  science 
may  not  accomplish  or  what  combinations  of  the  Eastern 
question  may  not  arise  to  remove  political  difficulties? 


LOCAL  POLITICS  AND  PROGRESS. 


Haifa,  Nov.  27. — The  native  population  here  is  in  a  high 
state  of  excitement  at  news  which  has  just  reached  us.  The 
government,  it  is  reported,  intends  transferring  the  seat  of 
the  provincial  government  from  Acre  to  this  place.  This 
change  has  been  recommended  on  the  grounds  of  the  superior 
excellence  of  the  harbour  of  Haifa,  of  its  increasing  export 
trade  and  rapidly  growing  population,  and,  above  all,  of  the 
constantly  augmenting  influence  of  foreigners,  which  is  the 
natural  result  of  the  inflow  of  their  capital  and  of  their  in¬ 
dustry  and  enterprise. 

The  old  fortress  of  Acre,  at  present  the  residence  of  the 
governor,  or  mutessarif,  contains  a  population  of  about  nine 
thousand,  pent  up  within  the  Avails  of  the  fort  and  croAvded 
into  an  area  of  little  more  than  fifty  acres.  They  are  for 
the  most  part  fanatic  Moslems,  which  means  a  state  of  stag¬ 
nation  in  industry  and  commercial  pursuits;  and  in  conse¬ 
quence  of  the  military  rule  Avhich  prohibits  any  extension  of 
the  town  outside  of  the  Avails  of  the  fortress  within  range  of 
the  guns,  no  expansion  is  possible  to  the  inhabitants.  The 
population  of  Haifa,  on  the  other  hand,  is  increasing  with 
great  rapidity,  and  the  place  seems  to  resound  from  one  end 
to  the  other  Avith  the  clink  of  the  stone-mason’s  chisel,  as 
new  houses  spring  up  in  all  directions.  These  considerations 
would  not  alone,  however,  account  for  the  resolution  at  which 
the  government  seems  to  have  arrived. 

Three  fourths  of  the  population  of  Haifa  are  either  Roman 
or  Greek  Catholics;  in  other  words,  they  are  under  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  the  French  Consul  Avhen  religious  questions  are 
concerned;  and  the  policy  of  the  French  government  in  Syria 
has  been  to  extend  its  religious  protectorate  into  political  and 
secular  matters,  to  a  degree  Avhich  is  constantly  giving  rise  to 
awkward  questions  and  complications  not  devoid  of  danger. 


LOCAL  POLITICS  AND  PROGRESS. 


209 


A  great  part  of  the  house  property  in  the  town  of  Haifa 
is  owned  by  the  monks  of  Mount  Carmel,  who  consider  the 
whole  of  Carmel,  from  the  monastery  at  the  western  ex¬ 
tremity  of  the  mountain,  to  their  chapel  at  the  Place  of  Eli¬ 
jah’s  Sacrifice  at  the  other  end,  as  a  sort  of  private  preserve, 
and  push  their  religious  pretensions  to  such  an  extreme  that 
they  look  with  the  utmost  jealousy  upon  any  foreigner  who 
attempts  to  buy  land  in  the  mountain,  and  oppose  any  such 
proceeding  with  all  their  energy. 

The  policy  of  the  Turkish  government,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  to  prevent  any  foreigners  buying  land  there,  or,  indeed, 
anywhere  else  in  Palestine,  although  they  are  entitled  to  do 
so  by  treaty;  and  in  pursuit  of  this  policy  the  local  authori¬ 
ties  are  instructed  to  throw  every  obstacle  in  the  way  of 
foreign  enterprise  of  all  descriptions,  but  especially  to  render 
it  impossible  for  persons  not  subjects  of  Turkey  to  acquire 
landed  property.  They  have,  on  these  grounds,  used  their 
utmost  endeavors  to  ruin  the  Jewish  colony  of  Zimmarin, 
which  is  also  in  the  neighborhood  of  Haifa,  by  prohibiting 
the  colonists  from  building  houses  for  themselves,  on  the 
ground  that  they  have  no  right  to  the  land.  They  have 
based  this  claim  on  the  allegation  that  the  proprietor  of  the 
property,  who  was  an  Austrian  Jew,  in  whose  name  it  was 
bought  for  the  colonists,  died  childless,  and,  according  to 
Turkish  law,  landed  property  revbrts  to  the  Turkish  govern¬ 
ment  under  these  circumstances;  and  the  government  there¬ 
fore  claimed  the  property.  It  so  happened,  however,  that 
the  owner  did  not  die  childless.  Indeed,  I  know  his  son  my¬ 
self,  but  the  government  refused  to  admit  the  evidence  of 
any  but  Moslems  as  to  whether  he  had  a  son  or  not,  a  de¬ 
mand  which,  as  the  deceased  proprietor  did  not  live  in  Tur¬ 
key,  it  was  naturally  impossible  to  comply  with.  The  ques¬ 
tion  has  therefore  been  pending  between  Baron  Rothschild, 
who  took  over  the  property  on  the  death  of  its  nominal 
proprietor,  and  the  Turkish  government  for  nearly  two  years; 
but  I  understand  that  permission  has  at  last  been  obtained 
for  the  erection  of  houses  by  the  colonists,  and  the  affair 
has  been  arranged. 

The  fact,  however,  that  foreign  questions  are  constantly 
arising  at  Haifa,  either  out  of  French  pretensions  or  the 
14 


210 


HAIFA. 


claims  of  the  German  or  Jewish  colonists,  and  that  no  such 
questions  are  possible  at  Acre,  where  there  is  but  a  limited 
Christian  or  foreign  population,  has  rendered  it  desirable  in 
the  eyes  of  the  Governor-general  of  Syria  to  suggest  the 
removal  of  the  governor  of  the  district  to  this  place.  The 
change  has  not  yet  been  sanctioned  at  Constantinople,  and 
the  inhabitants  of  Acre,  where  property  will  suffer  an  im¬ 
mediate  depreciation,  have  been  pouring  petitions  into  Con¬ 
stantinople  to  protest  against  the  change,  urging  as  a  reason 
that  they,  who  were  loyal  and  devoted  subjects  of  his  majes¬ 
ty,  will  suffer;  while  the  population  of  Haifa,  composed 
principally  of  Christians  and  foreigners,  will  benefit.  It  is 
just  possible,  however,  that  the  government  may  consider 
that  the  loyalty  and  devotion  of  the  petitioners  form  the 
best  reasons  wdiy  the  governor  should  be  moved  to  a  place 
where  the  loyalty  and  devotion  of  the  people  are  not  so 
assured,  and  should  therefore  be  watched.  At  all  events, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  change,  should  it  take  place, 
will  cause  an  immediate  rise  in  the  value  of  property  here, 
and  that  there  will  be  a  considerable  influx  of  people  from 
Acre  to  this  town,  which  has  the  advantage  in  summer  of 
being  a  much  cooler  and  more  agreeable  place  of  residence. 

Meantime,  advantage  has  been  taken  of  this  opportunity 
to  remove  the  present  governor  and  replace  him  by  a  more 
intelligent  and  active  functionary,  a  change  which  has  caused 
great  satisfaction,  both  to  Moslems  and  Christians,  as,  in 
spite  of  his  fanaticism,  he  had  contrived  to  make  himself 
very  unpopular  with  the  former,  while  he  altogether  failed 
to  keep  the  peace  at  Acre  between  the  rival  sects  of  the  lat¬ 
ter,  who,  though  very  limited  in  number,  -were  constantly 
engaged  in  broils.  Moreover,  it  is  not  the  habit  of  the 
Turkish  government  to  retain  its  functionaries,  under  any 
circumstances,  long  at  the  same  post. 

The  only  drawback  to  Haifa  as  the  new  seat  of  govern¬ 
ment  is  its  limited  water  supply.  At  present  the  town  de¬ 
pends  entirely  upon  its  wells,  and  although  an  abundance  of 
water  can  be  found  at  a  trifling  depth,  it  is  usually  a  little 
too  brackish  to  be  altogether  palatable.  Under  these  circum- 
tances  it  became  of  the  utmost  importance,  in  view  of  the 
proposed  change,  to  try  and  find  a  spring,  sufficiently  copi- 


LOCAL  POLITICS  AND  PROGRESS. 


211 


ous  and  near  the  town  to  be  utilized,  and  it  occurred  to  a 
friend  and  myself  that  such  a  one  might  exist  at  Rushmea, 
wThere  are  the  ruins  of  an  old  Crusading  fort,  which  I  have 
described  in  a  former  letter,  distant  about  an  hour’s  ride 
from  the  town,  at  an  elevation  of  about  seven  hundred  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea.  There  is  a  well  here  called  the 
Well  of  Elias,  into  which  I  once  descended,  and  found  that 
it  was  supplied  with  water  which  entered  through  a  tunnel 
in  the  rock,  but  had  no  outlet;  and  the  shepherds  told  me 
that,  however  much  they  watered  their  flocks,  the  water 
always  remained  at  the  same  height,  while  in  winter,  although 
the  well  was  eight  feet  deep,  the  water  rose  in  it  so  high  as 
to  overflow  the  mouth.  Under  these  circumstances  it  was 
evident  that  the  well  was,  in  fact,  a  sort  of  back-water  of 
some  underground  stream  or  rivulet,  which  found  a  subter¬ 
ranean  channel  for  itself.  This  we  determined,  by  excava¬ 
tion,  to  try  and  discover. 

We  therefore  commenced  digging  near  the  well,  and  about 
two  feet  from  the  surface  struck  the  roof  of  a  subterranean 
aqueduct.  Uncovering  this,  we  found  that  the  channel  had 
become  silted  up  with  mud,  which  required  to  be  removed. 
We  then  found  that  we  were  in  an  arched  tunnel,  the  sides 
of  which  were  roughly  built  with  stone,  while  the  floor  was 
paved  with  the  same  material,  in  which  a  channel  had  been 
cut,  but  it  was  four  inches  higher  than  the  water  in  the  well. 
We  were  therefore  obliged  to  take  it  up,  cutting,  altogether, 
a  trench  thirty  yards  long  and  eight  feet  deep.  On  drawing 
the  water  off  by  means  of  this  channel,  we  uncovered  the 
mouth  of  the  tunnel,  by  which  it  entered,  sufficiently  to  send 
in  a  man  with  a  light.  After  wading  through  the  mud  for 
a  few  paces,  he  came  upon  a  vault  beautifully  cemented, 
thus  proving  that  in  ancient  times  the  stream  had  been 
utilized.  It  would  have  involved  a  greater  expense,  how¬ 
ever,  to  clear  out  than  I  was  prepared  to  incur,  unaided  by 
the  community  for  whose  benefit  it  would  have  inured.  As 
it  was,  the  stream  thus  discovered  was  almost  sufficient  in 
volume  to  be  worth  conveying  to  Haifa,  a  distance  of  three 
miles,  and  could  doubtless  be  much  increased.  In  the  course 
of  our  excavations  we  came  upon  several  large  blocks  of 
square  stone,  which  had  formed  part  of  the  ancient  tunnel. 


212 


HAIFA . 


The  project  of  the  railway  from  Haifa  to  Damascus,  the 
concession  for  which  had  lapsed  in  consequence  of  the  com¬ 
bined  greed  and  apathy  of  the  first  grantees,  is  now  revived 
under  more  favorable  auspices,  and  I  have  little  doubt  that 
the  change  of  the  seat  of  the  government  to  this  place  will 
give  it  a  renewed  impetus,  so  that  before  long  it  will  be  car¬ 
ried  out. 

Meantime,  unwonted  energy  is  displayed  by  the  govern¬ 
ment  in  improving  our  communications.  Having  occasion 
a  few  wreeks  ago  to  ride  to  Bey  rout,  I  saw  the  surveyors  at 
work  tracing  out  a  line  for  a  carriage  road  to  connect  that 
important  city  with  Haifa.  The  distance  is  about  eighty 
miles,  and  there  are  no  serious  engineering  difficulties  in  the 
way.  This  road  is  sadly  needed,  especially  now,  when,  owing 
to  the  cholera  in  Europe,  no  steamer  touches  here  on  its  way 
to  Beyrout,  although  we  are  visited  once  a  fortnight  by  one 
coming  from  that  place  after  it  has  performed  there  a  quar¬ 
antine  of  five  days.  The  habit,  unfortunately,  of  the  gov¬ 
ernment  of  making  the  road,  and  postponing  to  an  indefinite 
period  the  construction  of  the  bridges,  goes  far  to  neutralize 
its  good  intentions.  The  towns  through  which  the  road 
passes  are  heavily  taxed,  and  then,  owing  to  the  want  of 
bridges,  it  is  useless  for  a  great  part  of  the  year.  Should 
this  road  be  completed,  Beyrout,  Damascus,  Jaffa,  Jerusalem, 
Nazareth,  Haifa,  Tyre,  and  Sidon  will  all  be  connected  by 
roads  over  which  stages  could  run;  and  this  would  go  far  to 
facilitate  travel  in  Palestine,  and  enable  tourists  to  dispense 
with  that  system  of  tenting  which  now  renders  it  so  slow 
and  expensive. 


THE  IDENTIFICATION  OF  ANCIENT  SITES. 


Haifa,  Dec.  13. — The  researches  which  I  have  been  mak¬ 
ing  into  the  oldest  authorities,  with  the  view  of  identifying 
the  sites  of  the  numerous  ancient  towns  that  once  formed 
the  homes  of  the  extensive  population  which  in  ages  long 
gone  by  inhabited  this  coast,  have  only  served  to  reveal  to 
me  the  enormous  difficulty  of  the  task.  This  difficulty  is 
created  partly  by  the  confusion  introduced  by  the  crusading 
nomenclature  and  traditions,  partly  by  the  inaccuracy  of  the 
itineraries  of  early  pilgrims  and  travellers,  and  to  the  dis¬ 
crepancies  existing  in  the  most  primitive  maps,  and  the  con¬ 
tradictions  in  historical  records.  Thus  between  this  place 
and  Tantura,  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles,  I  have  visited  the 
ruins  of  no  fewer  than  nine  ancient  towns  or  villages,  some 
of  them  of  considerable  size,  not  one  of  which,  with  the  ex¬ 
ception  of  Tantura,  which  is  the  Biblical  Dor,  has  been  posi¬ 
tively  identified.  I  do  not  include  in  these  the  ruins  of 
towns  a  mile  or  more  inland,  which  would  double  the  num¬ 
ber  and  convey  some  idea  of  the  denseness  of  the  popu¬ 
lation  which  once  inhabited  this  section  of  the  country. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  possible,  from  the  varied  character 
of  these  ruins,  that  some  were  far  more  ancient  than  the 
others,  and  that  they  may  have  existed  as  traces  of  a  still 
more  early  people,  when  other  cities,  also  now  in  ruin,  were 
rich  and  flourishing.  Thus  we  have  on  this  coast  remains  of 
the  early  Phoenician  period,  of  the  Greek  period,  of  the  Ro¬ 
man  or  Byzantine  period,  and,  lastly,  of  the  crusading  period 
— the  latter  too  modern  to  be  of  any  archaeological  interest. 
They  consist  merely  of  constructions  built  from  the  mate¬ 
rials  of  the  civilizations  which  had  preceded  it.  Not  con¬ 
tent  with  using  up  these  materials,  the  crusaders  gave  the 
towns  and  forts  which  they  built  wrong  names,  refusing  to 
adopt  the  Saracen  nomenclature,  which  was  generally  a  cor¬ 
ruption  of  the  original  Canaanitish  or  Hebrew,  and  attempt- 


214 


HAIFA. 


ing  to  identify  them  according  to  their  own  ideas  of  Bibli¬ 
cal  topography,  or  reading  of  Roman  history,  thereby  intro¬ 
ducing  inextricable  confusion.  Thus  we  have  William  of 
Tyre,  one  of  the  crusading  historiographers,  gravely  inform¬ 
ing  us  that  “Duke  Godfrey  de  Bouillon  awarded,  with  his 
usual  magnanimity,  to  the  generous  and  noble  Tancred  the 
city  of  Tiberias,  on  the  Lake  of  Genasereth,  as  well  as  of 
the  whole  of  Galilee  and  the  sea-town  of  Kaypha  (or  Haifa), 
which  is  otherwise  called  Porphyria.” 

The  Carmelite  monks  still  cling  to  this  tradition,  although 
modern  research  has  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  site, 
at  all  events  of  one  Roman  city  of  Porphyrion,  was  at 
Khan-Yunis,  a  ruin,  eight  miles  north  of  Sidon,  and  at  least 
seventy  miles  from  Haifa.  To  escape  this  difficulty  some 
have  supposed  there  were  two  Porphyrions,  and  that  one 
was  here,  basing  their  argument  on  the  fact  that  in  the  Ono- 
masticon  of  Eusebius  and  Jerome  there  is  a  city  marked  at 
the  point  of  Carmel,  called  Chilzon,  and  that  Chilzon  is  the 
Hebrew  for  the  murex,  or  shellfish  which  produced  the  pur¬ 
ple  dye  found  there  in  great  quantities;  hence  Porphyrion, 
or  the  purple  city. 

In  carefully  examining  these  ruins,  and  remarking  the 
great  quantity  of  carved  porphyry  which  is  peculiar  to  them, 
I  have  thought  it  furnished  a  stronger  argument  in  favor  of 
what  would  seem  an  appropriate  appellation.  The  crusaders 
even  confounded  the  Sea  of  Galilee  with  the  Mediterranean; 
thus  they  supposed  a  connection  to  exist  between  the  town 
of  Caiaplia,  or  Caiaphas  (the  modern  Haifa),  which  Benjamin 
of  Tudela  asserts  to  have  been  founded  by  Caiaphas,  the 
high-priest,  and  Cephas,  the  Greek  name  of  Simon  Peter. 
Hence  near  Haifa  the  crusading  clergy  showed  the  rock 
where  Simon  Peter  fished,  called  to  this  day  Tell  el-Samak, 
or  the  Mound  of  the  Fish.  Laboring  under  a  similar  con¬ 
fusion  of  idea,  they  built  a  fort  out  of  the  ruins  of  a  place 
called  at  the  present  day  Kefr  Lam,  a  name  which,  no  doubt, 
dates  back  before  the  times  of  the  crusaders,  and  which  they 
twisted  into  Capernaum,  that  place  being,  as  we  all  know, 
on  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  The  Capernaum  of  the  crusaders, 
however,  is  a  village  on  the  Mediterranean  shore,  thirteen 
miles  down  the  coast  from  here.  . 


THE  IDENTIFICATION  OF  ANCIENT  SITES. 


215 


The  itineraries  of  the  pilgrims  and  early  travellers  are 
scarcely  less  perplexing.  They  are  generally  careful  to  re¬ 
cord  the  distances  between  the  various  places  they  visit,  but 
rarely  with  accuracy.  Their  remarks,  however,  are  naive 
and  amusing.  I  have  just  been  reading  the  journal  of  a 
certain  Antoninus,  the  Martyr,  who  travelled  in  Palestine 
about  the  year  a.d.  530.  Writing  of  Tyre,  he  says: 

“  The  city  of  Tyre  contains  influential  men  ;  the  life  there  is  very  wicked  ; 
the  luxury  such  as  cannot  be  described.  There  are  public  brothels,  and  silk 
and  other  kinds  of  clothing  are  woven.” 

We  do  not  altogether  see  the  connection  in  this  last  sen¬ 
tence.  Going  on,  he  remarks: 

“  Thence  we  came  to  Ftolemais  (the  modern  Acre),  a  respectable  city, 
where  we  found  good  monasteries.  Opposite  Ptolemais,  six  miles  off,  is  a 
city  which  is  named  Sycaminus,  under  Mount  Carmel.  A  mile  from  Sycami- 
nus  are  the  hamlets  of  the  Samaritans,  and  above  the  hamlets,  a  mile  and  a 
half  away,  is  the  Monastery  of  Heliseus  (or  Elijah),  the  prophet,  at  the  place 
where  the  woman  met  him  whose  child  he  raised  from  the  dead.  On  Mount 
Carmel  is  found  a  stone,  of  small  size  and  round,  which,  when  struck,  rings 
because  it  is  solid.  This  is  the  virtue  of  the  stone — if  it  be  hung  on  to  a 
woman,  or  to  any  animal,  they  will  never  miscarry.  About  six  or  seven  miles 
off  is  the  city  of  rorphyrion.” 

Now  there  are  as  many  mistakes  as  there  are  sentences  in 
this  quaint  account  by  the  holy  man.  It  is  a  matter  of  dis¬ 
pute  which  are  the  ruins  of  Sycaminus.  Two  ruins  claim 
that  honor,  and  one  of  these  it  undoubtedly  is.  They  are 
only  two  miles  apart,  but  the  nearest  is  thirteen  miles  from 
Acre,  instead  of  six,  and  the  other  fifteen.  A  mile  from 
Sycaminus,  he  says,  are  the  hamlets  of  the  Samaritans.  These 
have  been  identified  beyond  all  doubt  as  a  ruin  called  Kefr 
es  Samir,  two  miles  and  a  half  beyond  one  of  the  above- 
mentioned  ruins,  and  four  miles  and,  a  half  beyond  the  oth¬ 
er.  The  Monastery  of  Heliseus,  the  prophet,  “  a  mile  and 
a  half  away,”  I  have  described  in  a  former  letter.  It  is  the 
picturesque  gorge  and  ruin  called  Ain  Siah,  but  the  place 
where  Elijah  met  the  woman  of  Sarepta  was,  if  we  are  to 
believe  the  Bible,  “at  the  gate  of  that  city,”  at  least  fifty 
miles  distant  from  Carmel.  There  is  no  doubt  as  to  its  site, 
between  Tyre  and  Sidon.  As  to  “the  stone  of  small  size, 
which,  when  struck,  rings  because  it  is  solid,”  it  happens  to 


216 


HAIFA. 


ring  because  it  is  hollow.  I  have  an  interesting  collection 
of  these  geodes,  found  near  Ain  Siah,  their  peculiar  shapes 
having  given  rise  to  the  legend  that  they  were  melons  and 
other  fruits  which  the  proprietor  refused  the  prophet  when 
he  was  hungry,  and  which  the  latter  therefore  blasted  with 
petrifaction.  And  then  comes  the  final  statement  about 
the  unhappy  Porpliyrion,  which  he  puts  six  miles  off,  thus 
probably  identifying  it  with  Athlit,  and  making  confusion 
worse  confounded.  First  we  have  the  Jerusalem  Itinerary, 
distinctly  placing  it  to  the  north  of  Sidon,  a  position  con¬ 
firmed  by  other  authorities;  then  we  have  William  of  Tyre 
identifying  it  with  Haifa,  and  now  we  have  Antoninus  put¬ 
ting  it  six  miles  off. 

I  will  not  inflict  upon  you  all  my  reasons  for  coming  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  ruin  at  Tell  el-Samak,  the  Mound  of 
the  Fish  already  alluded  to,  is  the  site  of  Sycaminum,  though 
I  doubt  whether  a  larger  population  did  not  inhabit  the  city 
two  miles  nearer  Haifa,  where  the  porphyry  fragments 
abound.  To  judge  by  the  fine  carvings  at  both  places,  they 
must  have  been  wealthy  as  well  as  populous,  and  their  most 
prosperous  period  was  in  all  probability  during  the  first 
three  or  four  centuries  of  our  era.  The  coins  which  I  have 
found  so  far  are  of  that  epoch.  Exploring  the  ruins  of 
what  must  have  been  the  upper  tower  of  Sycaminus,  dis¬ 
tant  about  four  hundred  yards  from  the  Fish  Mound,  and 
two  hundred  feet  above  it,  a  few  days  ago,  I  came  upon  a 
cistern  with  four  circular  apertures.  Upon  being  let  down 
into  it  I  found  it  was  seventy  feet  long,  hewn  out  of  the 
solid  rock,  twenty  feet  broad,  and  twelve  feet  high  from  the 
debris  at  the  bottom,  but  in  reality  much  deeper.  The  roof 
was  supported  by  three  columns,  four  feet  square,  also  hewn 
from  the  living  rock.  The  cement  was  still  in  some  places 
perfect,  and  the  cistern  must  have  been  capable  of  contain¬ 
ing  a  vast  supply  of  water.  It  was  about  fifteen  yards  from 
an  angle  of  a  wall  composed  of  rubble,  from  which  the  ash¬ 
lar  had  been  removed,  about  four  feet  thick,  and  still  stand¬ 
ing  in  places  to  a  height  of  four  feet.  In  others  the  foun¬ 
dations  of  this  wall  were  easily  traceable.  As  the  whole  ruin 
seems  to  have  escaped  the  observation  of  the  Palestine  Ex¬ 
ploration  Survey,  I  measured  it,  and  found  the  east  wall  to 


THE  IDENTIFICATION  OF  ANCIENT  SITES.  217 


be  one  hundred  and  twelve  yards  long,  the  south  wall  sixty- 
five,  the  west  wall  seventy,  and  an  intersecting  wall  forty. 
I  could  find  no  traces  of  a  north  wall.  It  was  probably  a 
fortress,  which  was  supplied  by  the  cistern  already  men¬ 
tioned.  In  the  neighborhood  were  some  fine  rock-cut  tombs, 
two  with  six  loculi,  each  in  a  good  state  of  preservation.  I 
also  picked  up  a  piece  of  white  marble  on  which  was  an  in¬ 
scription  in  early  Arabic  characters,  but  only  the  word  “Al¬ 
lah  ”  and  two  or  three  more  letters  remained  on  the  frag¬ 
ment. 

At  Kefr  Lam,  the  crusaders’  Capernaum,  which  I  had  oc¬ 
casion  recently  to  visit,  I  discovered  two  very  remarkable 
vaults,  each  forty  feet  long  by  twelve  broad  and  seven  high. 
The  roof  was  supported  by  five  arches,  each  arch  composed 
of  a  single  stone  four  feet  broad,  on  the  top  of  which  huge 
Hat  stones  had  been  laid.  I  have  never  seen  any  construc¬ 
tions  like  these  vaults,  and  think  they  probably  dated  from 
a  very  ancient  period.  In  the  immediate  neighborhood  the 
peasantry  had  recently  opened  an  ancient  well,  thirty-five 
feet  deep,  the  water  being  approached  by  a  flight  of  steps 
round  two  sides  of  the  well,  the  shaft  of  which  was  about 
thirty  feet  square.  There  were  no  fewer  than  seventeen 
handsome  rock-cut  tombs  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  vil¬ 
lage,  and  I  regretted  that  I  had  not  time  to  prolong  my  in¬ 
vestigations,  as  I  feel  convinced  that  the  vicinity  would 
repay  examination.  As  it  is,  I  have  obtained  from  the  vil¬ 
lagers  several  good  specimens  of  terra-cotta  lamps,  two  curi¬ 
ous  alabaster  saucers,  some  coins,  and  other  antiquities. 


THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE  IN  THE  TIME  OF  CHRIST. 


Haifa,  Dec.  26. — In  reading  the  works  of  Dr.  Kitto  and 
other  writers  who  have  endeavoured  to  present  a  picture  of 
the  manners  and  customs  of  the  population  which  inhabited 
Palestine  in  ancient  times,  I  have  been  much  struck  by  the 
erroneous  impressions  which  the  descriptions  of  those  writ¬ 
ers  are  calculated  to  convey  in  many  important  respects. 
This  has  arisen  from  the  fact  that  while  they  have  portrayed, 
with  tolerable  accuracy,  the  rude  civilization  of  the  original 
inhabitants  and  the  subsequent  civilization  grafted  upon  it 
by  their  Jewish  conquerors,  they  have  left  out  of  consider¬ 
ation  the  changes  worked  upon,  and  the  modifications  intro¬ 
duced  into,  the  social  conditions  thus  produced  by  that  still 
higher  and  later  civilization  which  resulted  from  Greek  and 
Roman  invasions.  Thus  while  they  carefully  trace  back 
the  habits  of  the  modern  fellahin,  and  show  that  they  differ 
slightly  from  those  of  the  peasantry  of  the  country  in  the 
time  of  Christ,  and  invoke  the  testimony  of  modern  Bedou¬ 
ins  as  evidence  of  a  mode  of  life  which  has  undergone  no 
perceptible  alteration  since  the  days  of  Abraham,  they  leave 
out  of  account  altogether  that  magnificent  Roman  and  By¬ 
zantine  civilization,  traces  of  which  still  exist  in  such  abun¬ 
dance  as  to  astound  the  traveller  with  its  splendor  and  its 
richness,  but  which  has  passed  away  like  a  dream,  leaving 
nothin o;  behind  but  the  coarse  barbarism  which  has  sue- 
ceeded  it,  and  which  is  almost  identical  in  character  with 
what  it  supplanted.  Hence  it  is  that  these  writers  have 
found  those  resemblances  between  the  modern  and  ancient 
manners  and  customs  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  country  by 
which  they  were  so  much  struck,  and  which  they  have  given 
to  the  public  as  furnishing  an  accurate  picture  of  what  an¬ 
cient  Palestine  was  like. 

We  are  so  much  in  the  habit  of  confining  our  interest  in 


THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE  IN  THE  TIME  OF  CHRIST.  219 


this  country  to  its  history  before  the  time  of  Christ  that  it 
will  probably  strike  many  with  surprise  to  learn  that  the 
most  flourishing  epoch  of  its  history  was  subsequent  to  that 
time;  that  never  before  had  the  arts  and  sciences  reached 
so  high  a  pitch ;  that  never  before  had  its  population  been 
so  wealthy  and  luxurious,  its  architecture  so  grand,  its  com¬ 
merce  so  flourishing,  and  its  civilization  generally  so  ad¬ 
vanced.  It  is  true  it  had  lost  its  independence,  and  was 
only  a  Roman  province,  but  it  is  just  because  it  was  one, 
and  not  a  Jewish  kingdom,  that  our  impression  of  its  act¬ 
ual  condition  at  the  time  of  Christ  is  apt  to  be  so  erroneous. 

This  fact  has  been  very  forcibly  brought  to  my  notice  in 
a  recent  trip  which  I  have  made  along  the  shores  of  the  Sea 
of  Galilee,  more  especially  along  its  little-explored  northern 
and  eastern  coasts,  where  the  evidences  of  the  wealth  and 
luxury  of  the  former  inhabitants  still  remain  in  unexampled 
profusion.  In  reading  in  the  Gospels  the  narrative  of  the 
works  and  life  of  Christ,  so  much  of  which  was  spent  upon 
the  shores  of  the  lake,  in  one  of  the  cities  of  which  he  for 
some  time  took  up  his  abode,  most  of  us  have  endeavoured, 
probably,  to  picture  him  to  ourselves  amid  purely  Jewish 
surroundings  and  conditions  closely  resembling  those  which 
we  have  been  in  the  habit  of  associating  with  that  previous 
period  of  Jewish  history  with  which  we  are  familiar  in  the 
books  of  the  Old  Testament.  So  far  from  that  being  the 
case,  the  part  of  the  country  in  which  his  ministrations  were 
principally  exercised,  was  beyond  all  others  a  centre  of  Ro¬ 
man  life,  with  all  its  luxurious  accompaniments.  Nowhere 
else  in  Palestine  was  there  such  a  congeries  of  rich  and 
populous  cities  as  were  crowded  round  the  shores  of  this 
small  lake.  Nowhere  else  could  the  Jewish  reformer  come 
into  closer  contact  with  the  rites  of  a  worship  alien  to  his 
own. 

On  the  shores  of  this  lake  might  be  seen  temple  after 
temple  rearing  their  vast  colonnades  of  graceful  columns, 
their  courts  ornamented  with  faultlessly  carved  statues  to 
the  deities  of  a  heathen  cult.  Here  were  the  palaces  of 
the  Roman  high  functionaries,  the  tastefully  decorated 
villas  of  rich  citizens,  with  semi-tropical  gardens  irrigated 
by  the  copious  streams  which  have  their  sources  in  the 


220 


HAIFA. 


plain  of  Genesaretli  and  the  neighbouring  hills.  Here  were 
broad  avenues  and  populous  thoroughfares,  thronged  with 
the  motley  concourse  which  so  much  wealth  and  magnifi¬ 
cence  had  attracted — rich  merchants  from  Antioch,  then 
the  most  gorgeous  city  of  the  East,  and  from  the  Greek 
islands,  traders  and  visitors  from  Damascus,  Palmyra,  and 
the  rich  cities  of  the  Decapolis;  caravans  from  Egypt  and 
Persia,  Jewish  rabbis  jostling  priests  of  the  worship  of  the 
sun,  and  Roman  soldiers  swaggering  across  the  market¬ 
places,  where  the  peasantry  were  exposing  the  produce  of 
their  fields  and  gardens  for  sale,  and  where  fish  was  dis¬ 
played  by  the  hardy  toilers  of  the  lake,  among  whom  were 
those  whom  the  Great  Teacher  selected  to  be  the  first  re¬ 
cipients  of  his  message  and  the  channels  for  its  communica¬ 
tion  to  after  ages. 

Thus  it  was,  as  I  rode  along  the  margin  of  the  sea  the 
other  day,  that  I  was  enabled  to  repeople  its  shores  in  imag¬ 
ination  by  the  light  of  the  remains  with  which  they  are  still 
strewn,  and,  overtaken  in  its  desolation  by  the  shades  of 
night,  to  fancy  its  now  gloomy  shores  ablaze  with  the  scin¬ 
tillations  proceeding  from  the  lamps  of  at  least  a  dozen 
large  cities,  and  the  almost  continuous  street  of  habitations 
which  connected  them,  and  to  illuminate  its  now  dark  and 
silent  waters  with  countless  brilliantly-lighted  boats,  skim¬ 
ming  over  its  smooth  surface,  containing  noble  ladies  and 
gallants  on  their  way  to  or  from  scenes  of  nocturnal  festiv¬ 
ity,  or  indulging  in  moonlight  picnics,  with  the  accompani¬ 
ments  of  wine  and  song  and  music.  That  life  in  these  cities 
was  profligate  and  dissipated  in  a  high  degree  we  may  gather 
from  Christ’s  denunciation  of  Bethsaida,  Chorazin,  and  Ca¬ 
pernaum,  which  he  declared  to  be  so  much  more  wicked  than 
Tyre  or  Sidon,  or  even  Sodom,  that  it  would  be  more  toler¬ 
able  in  the  day  of  judgment  for  those  cities  than  for  the 
three  he  was  denouncing.  That  among  these  Capernaum 
was  the  one  of  the  greatest  splendor,  and  was  puffed  up 
therefore  with  the  pride  of  its  own  pomp  and  magnificence, 
we  may  gather  from  the  indignant  apostrophe:  “And  thou, 
Capernaum,  which  art  exalted  unto  heaven.”  It  may  have 
been  because  he  considered  this  city  the  wickedest,  as  it  ap¬ 
pears  to  have  been  the  largest  on  the  lake,  and  therefore 


THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE  IN  THE  TIME  OF  CHRIST.  221 


the  most  in  need  of  his  ministrations,  that  he  chose  it  for 
some  time  as  his  residence.  Hence  it  came  to  be  called 
“  his  own  city.”  This  circumstance  invests  it  with  a  special 
interest  in  our  eyes. 

Unfortunately,  a  violent  contest  rages  between  Palestin- 
ologists,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  coin  the  word,  as  to  the 
exact  site  of  Capernaum.  The  two  places  which  claim  this 
honor  are  now  called  Khan  Minieh  and  Tell  Hum  respect¬ 
ively.  Until  lately  the  weight  of  opinion  was  in  favor  of 
the  former  site;  latterly  the  researches  of  Sir  Charles  Wil¬ 
son,  on  behalf  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  have  con¬ 
vinced  that  accomplished  archaeologist  and  careful  explorer 
that  the  true  site  of  this  celebrated  city  is  to  be  found  at 
Tell  Hum.  It  would  weary  my  readers  if  I  were  to  quote 
all  the  texts  relied  upon  by  the  disputants  to  maintain  each 
hypothesis,  supported  by  calculations  of  distance,  the  ac¬ 
counts  of  Josephus,  and  of  early  pilgrim  or  Arab  travellers. 
The  subject  has  been  pretty  well  thrashed  out,  but  I  doubt 
whether  it  is  even  yet  exhausted.  I  incline  strongly  to  the 
Tell  Hum  theory,  but  as  Khan  Minieh  comes  first  on  our 
way  as  we  glide  from  Tiberias  to  the  head  of  the  lake,  as  it 
is  unquestionably  the  site  of  what  was  once  a  city,  and  as  it 
is  a  highly  picturesque  spot,  and  one,  moreover,  full  of  Bib¬ 
lical  interest  as  being,  if  not  Capernaum  itself,  within  three 
miles  of  that  city,  and  therefore  a  spot  which  must  have 
been  the  scene  of  some  of  Christ’s  labours,  I  will  begin  by 
describing  it. 

The  plain  of  Genesareth,  the  unrivalled  fertility  and  luxu¬ 
riance  of  which,  though  it  is  now  uncultivated,  I  described 
in  a  former  letter,  when  I  crossed  it  eighteen  months  ago 
on  my  way  to  Safed,  is  terminated  at  its  northern  extrem¬ 
ity  by  a  mountain  range,  which  projects  in  a  lofty  and 
precipitous  crag  into  the  lake,  and  renders  any  passage 
round  it  by  land  extremely  difficult.  This  projection  forms 
a  little  bay,  or  rather  rush-grown  lagoon,  running  back  into 
the  head  of  the  plain.  Into  it  falls  a  small  stream,  powerful 
enough,  however,  to  turn  a  mill.  It  is  this  building  and  the 
ruins  of  an  ancient  khan  near  it,  which  was  itself  construct¬ 
ed  from  the  remains  of  an  ancient  city  about  three  hundred 
yards  distant,  which  is  now  called  Khan  Minieh.  The  true 


222 


HAIFA. 


site  of  tlie  old  city  is  not,  however,  where  the  khan  now 
stands,  but  not  far  from  a  fountain,  shaded  by  an  old  tig- 
tree,  from  which  the  fountain  takes  its  name — Ain  el-Tin, 
or  the  Fountain  of  the  Fig-tree,  which  suggests  the  idea 
that  either  the  name  is  very  new  or  the  fig-tree  very  old. 
A  plentiful  supply  of  water  flows  from  it,  slightly  brackish, 
with  a  temperature  of  82°  Fahrenheit.  The  water  is  crowd¬ 
ed  with  fish  and  surrounded  with  green  turf.  It  appears  to 
be  one  of  the  seven  fountains  mentioned  by  Theodorus, 
a.d.  580,  as  being  two  miles  from  Magdala,  the  city  of  Mary 
Magdalene,  in  the  direction  of  Capernaum. 

Near  this  fountain  are  some  old  foundations  and  traces  of 
ruins,  but  these  for  the  most  part  cover  a  series  of  mounds 
where  a  few  walls  are  visible,  but  no  traces  of  columns, 
capitals,  or  handsome  blocks  of  stone,  and  much  smaller  in 
extent  than  those  of  Tell  Hum.  Indeed,  the  whole  area  is 
not  more  than  two  hundred  yards  long  by  one  hundred 
broad,  and  this  is  one  reason  for  supposing  that  it  cannot  be 
the  site  of  that  important  city.  The  khan  itself  is  at  least 
as  old  as  the  twelfth  century,  being  mentioned  by  Bohaed- 
din  in  his  life  of  Saladin.  A  road  from  here  leads  up  the 
steep  hillside  to  Safed.  The  view  from  it,  as  we  ascend  to 
some  elevation  above  the  plain,  is  very  beautiful.  That  fer¬ 
tile  expanse  which  Josephus  calls  “the  ambition  of  nature,” 
lies  stretched  at  our  feet,  with  the  waters  of  the  lake  rip¬ 
pling  upon  its  pebbly  beach,  while  we  look  right  up  the 
gorge  of  Hammam,  its  beetling  cliffs  on  both  sides  towering 
in  rugged  cave-perforated  precipices  to  a  height  of  twelve 
hundred  feet  above  the  tiny  stream  which,  compressed  be¬ 
tween  these  lofty  Avails  of  limestone  and  basalt,  Avinds  its 
Avay  to  the  lake. 

But  it  is  not  up  the  wild  mountain-side  that  our  present 
Avay  lies;  so,  taking  our  last  look  at  the  crumbling  walls  of 
the  old  khan,  at  the  picturesque  Avater-mill,  the  ruin-strewn 
mounds,  and  the  grassy  lagoon,  we  prepare  to  skirt  the  rocky 
flank  of  the  ledge  which  here  dips  into  the  waters  of  the 
Sea  of  Genesareth,  and  by  which  Ave*  hope  to  reach  the 
ruins  of  Bethsaida. 


THE  SCENE  OF  THE  MIRACLE  OF  THE  FIVE 
LOAVES  AND  TWO  SMALL  FISHES. 

Haifa,  Jan.  6,  1885. — If,  as  I  stated  in  my  last  letter,  stu¬ 
dents  of  Biblical  topography  have  been  much  exercised  in 
their  minds  as  to  the  identification  of  the  ruins  on  the  north¬ 
west  shore  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  which  indicate  the  site  of 
the  once  famous  city  of  Capernaum,  and  have  applied  not 
only  a  great  amount  of  antiquarian  research  and  of  time  in 
the  way  of  minute  local  examination  and  literary  labor  in 
the  hope  of  definitely  settling  this  knotty  point,  there  is  an¬ 
other  upon  which  they  have  no  less  anxiously  expended  their 
ingenuity.  This  is  to  solve  the  vexed  question  as  to  wheth¬ 
er  there  were,  in  the  time  of  Christ,  two  Bethsaidas  or  one. 
This  question  would  never  have  arisen  but  for  the  confusion 
introduced  into  the  scriptural  narrative  by  the  puzzling  ac¬ 
counts  given  in  all  the  four  gospels  of  the  miracle  of  the 
feeding  of  the  multitude  with  five  loaves  and  two  fishes,  the 
scene  of  which  the  four  evangelists  are  unanimous  in  de- 
scribing  as  having  been  in  a  desert  spot  which  must  have 
been  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  lake,  for  immediately  after¬ 
wards  “  they  crossed  over  to  the  other  side,”  arriving  at 
Capernaum,  which  was  on  the  western  side.  But  according 
to  one  (Luke)  this  desert  place  (on  the  eastern  side)  be¬ 
longed  to  a  city  called  Betlisaida ;  and  according  to  an¬ 
other  (Mark)  Christ,  after  the  miracle,  “  constrained  his 
disciples  to  get  into  the  ship  and  go  to  the  other  (or  western) 
side  before,  unto  Betlisaida,  while  he  sent  away  the  people.” 
Hence  the  confusion;  starting  from  the  western  side,  they 
take  ship,  cross  over  to  a  desert  place  belonging  to  Beth- 
saida;  the  miracle  is  performed  there,  and  the  disciples  are 
constrained  by  their  Master  to  take  ship  and  cross  the  lake 
back  again  to  what  must  be  another  Betlisaida.  Then  the 
storm  arises,  he  comes  to  them  on  the  waters,  and  they  final¬ 
ly  reach  Capernaum  in  safety. 


224 


HAIFA. 


Reland,  the  learned  geographer  of  the  last  century,  was 
the  first  to  invent  the  second  Bethsaida  on  the  western  side, 
which  is  not  mentioned  by  either  Josephus  or  Pliny,  the 
latter  of  whom  distinctly  puts  it  on  the  eastern  side;  and  I 
have  not  been  able  exactly  to  discover  upon  what  authority 
Reland  hit  upon  this  easy  solution  of  the  problem.  The 
only  historical  Bethsaida  of  which  we  have  any  certain  rec¬ 
ord  was  a  place  at  the  northeastern  extremity,  originally  a 
village,  but  rebuilt  and  adorned  by  Philip  the  Tetrarch,  and 
raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  town  under  the  name  of  Julias, 
after  the  daughter  of  the  emperor.  Here,  in  a  magnificent 
tomb,  Philip  was  himself  buried.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
have  indications  of  the  existence  of  another  Bethsaida  in 
the  mention  of  a  Bethsaida  which  was  the  birthplace  of 
Peter  and  Andrew  and  Philip,  which  Mark  tells  us  was  “in 
the  land  of  Genesareth,”  and  therefore  on  the  west  shore 
of  the  lake.  Supposing  Tell  Hum  to  be  Capernaum,  and 
the  western  Bethsaida  to  be  on  the  site  usually  assigned  to 
it,  this  hypothesis  would  give  us  two  Bethsaidas  only  six 
miles  apart,  not  a  very  probable  supposition;  or  else  we 
have  to  suppose  that  the  land  of  Genesareth  extended 
across  the  Jordan  to  the  east  side,  which  we  know  to  have 
had  another  name,  and  to  have  been  in  another  province;  or 
to  suppose,  as  Dr.  Thomson — who  resolutely  refuses  to  have 
two  Bethsaidas — does,  that  half  the  town  was  on  one  side  of 
the  Jordan  and  half  on  the  other,  and  that  the  half  on  the 
west  side  was  called  Bethsaida  in  the  land  of  Genesareth, 
though  the  plain  of  that  name  is  five  miles  distant.  More¬ 
over,  there  are  no  ruins  conveniently  placed  to  support  the 
presumption,  which  is  very  strained.  .  Altogether  the  sub¬ 
ject  is  one  which  has  puzzled  every  Biblical  geographer 
hitherto,  and,  after  a  careful  examination  of  all  their  argu¬ 
ments,  I  find  myself  just  as  much  in  the  dark  about  it  as 
when  I  entered  upon  the  investigation.  As,  therefore,  after 
visiting  all  the  disputed  localities,  I  do  not  feel  any  the  more 
competent  to  enlighten  your  readers,  I  will  confine  myself 
to  describing  the  different  places  which  have  been  suggested 
as  the  sites  of  these  cities,  as  well  as  of  others  which  I  vis¬ 
ited  in  the  section  of  country  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  some 
of  which  I  was  the  first  to  discover,  and  none  of  which  have 
been  positively  identified. 


SCENE  OF  MIRACLE  OF  LOAVES  AND  FISHES.  225 

Meantime,  the  scene,  which  the  tradition  of  many  centu¬ 
ries  located  erroneously  as  the  spot  upon  which  the  miracle 
took  place,  is  exactly  above  us  as  we  wind  along  a  rocky 
path  cut  in  the  precipice  which  overhangs  the  Sea  of  Gali¬ 
lee.  This  huge  impending  crag  is  crowned  by  an  artificial 
plateau,  which  is  two  hundred  feet  long  by  one  hundred 
broad,  and  in  the  northwest  angle  are  the  remains  of  a  wall 
and  the  ruins  of  a  building,  probably  a  fortress  of  some 
sort.  This  spot  was  known  in  the  middle  ages  as  the  Mensa 
Christi,  or  Table  of  Christ.  In  olden  time  the  great  Damascus 
high-road  ran  just  below,  and  the  fort  above  doubtless  com¬ 
manded  this  pass;  but  it  has  become  impassable,  and  the 
path  now  follows  the  channel  of  an  aqueduct  hewn  out  of  the 
living  rock.  For  about  two  hundred  yards  we  find  ourselves 
riding  alons;  the  narrow  floor  of  this  ancient  watercourse. 
On  our  left  the  smooth  rock  rises  precipitously,  and  on  our 
right  it  forms  a  wall  from  three  to  four  feet  high,  over 
which  we  could  drop  a  stone  perpendicularly  into  the  wa¬ 
ters  of  the  lake.  The  aqueduct  which  thus  forms  our  sin¬ 
gular  roadway  is  about  three  feet  wide;  emerging  from  it, 
after  we  turn  the  angle  of  the  rock,  we  find  ourselves  over¬ 
looking  a  little  bay,  into  which  rushes  a  brawling  torrent, 
the  largest  which  enters  the  lake  excepting  the  Jordan,  and 
wrhich  here  turns  a  mill.  It  is,  however,  only  a  few  yards 
long,  as  it  bursts  from  the  ground  in  great  force,  in  what  is 
by  far  the  most  powerful  spring  in  Galilee,  and  is,  without 
doubt,  the  celebrated  Fountain  of  Capernaum  mentioned  by 
Josephus  as  watering  the  plain  of  Genesareth.  This  it  did 
by  means  of  the  aqueduct  which  we  had  already  traversed, 
the  distance  from  the  fountain  to  the  plain  not  being  above 
a  mile.  Besides  the  principal  fountain,  which  is  estimated 
as  beinsf  more  than  half  the  size  of  the  celebrated  source  of 
the  Jordan  at  Banias,  there  are  four  smaller  fountains,  all 
more  or  less  brackish,  and  varying  in  temperature  from  73° 
to  86°. 

One  of  the  special  subjects  of  interest  connected  with 
these  fountains  is  the  presence  in  them  of  the  remarkable  fish 
called  the  coracinus.  The  only  known  habitats  of  this  fish 
in  the  world  are  in  the  Nile,  in  a  fountain  which  I  have  also 
visited  in  the  plain  of  Genesareth,  called  Mudawara,  and  in 
15 


226 


HAIFA. 


this  spring.  Josephus  accounts  for  its  existence  here,  as 
well  as  in  the  Nile,  by  a  hypothetical  subterranean  water 
communication  with  the  great  river  of  Egypt.  Modern 
geologists  point  to  it  as  an  evidence  of  the  fact  that  in  some 
long  bygone  period  Palestine  might  have  been  included  in  a 
great  Ethiopian  basin.  However  the  circumstance  is  to  be 
accounted  for,  it  is  most  remarkable,  and  was  doubted  until 
Canon  Tristram  verified  it  twenty  years  ago  by  a  somewhat 
singular  experience.  Crossing  the  little  stream  which  issues 
from  the  fountain  of  Mudawara  and  flows  into  the  lake,  and 
which  happened  to  be  very  low  at  the  time,  he  was  surprised 
to  observe  a  quantity  of  fish  wriggling  along  in  single  hie, 
and  so  close  together  that  the  mouth  of  one  touched  the  tail 
of  the  one  before  it.  In  places  there  was  so  little  water 
that  they  had  to  flop  across  intervals  of  almost  dry  land; 
here  he  caught  them  easily  with  his  hand,  and,  as  many 
averaged  three  feet  in  length,  he  was  not  long  in  making  a 
good  bag.  What  surprised  him  most,  however,  was  to  find 
that  as  soon  as  he  laid  hold  of  one  it  began  hissing  and 
screaming  like  a  cat.  Making  a  bag  of  his  cloak,  he  car¬ 
ried  them  off  in  triumph  to  his  camp,  which  w^as  three 
hours  distant,  and  could  hear  them  hissing  and  caterwaul¬ 
ing  in  it  all  the  way.  He  describes  them  as  being  a  most 
delicious  fish  to  eat,  something  like  an  eel  in  flavor,  and 
possessed  of  extraordinary  vitality,  as  some  of  them  were 
still  living  after  they  had  been  two  days  out  of  the  water. 
The  last  volume  just  issued  by  the  Palestine  Exploration 
Fund  contains  a  print  of  this  extraordinary  creature,  which 
has  a  long,  slender  body,  apparently  not  much  thicker  than 
that  of  a  good-sized  eel,  with  two  long  fins,  one  on  the  back 
and  one  on  the  belly.  The  mouth,  with  its  long,  cartilagi¬ 
nous  streamers  (I  do  not  know  the  ichthyological  term  for 
them),  somewhat  resembles  that  of  a  catfish.  I  unfortunately 
had  no  means  of  fishing  for  them  on  the  occasion  of  my  visit, 
and  they  did  not  happen  to  be  migrating  to  their  spawning 
grounds,  which  they  were  evidently  doing  when  Tristram 
caught  them;  but  my  late  experiences  on  the  shores  of  the 
lake  have  been  so  full  of  interest  that  I  propose  to  make 
another  visit  in  the  spring,  when  I  hope  to  go  supplied  with 
tackle,  and  to  give  you  my  own  piscatory  experiences. 


SCENE  OF  MIRACLE  OF  LOAVES  AND  FISHES.  227 

There  is  a  small  tract  of  fertile  land  in  the  rear  of  the 
mill,  but  no  ruins  except  those  connected  with  mills  or  wa¬ 
ter-works.  Nevertheless,  it  is  impossible  almost  to  conceive 
that  a  position  so  favored  by  nature  should  not  have  been 
the  site  of  a  town,  and  it  is  on  this  spot  that  many  geogra¬ 
phers  place  the  western  Bethsaida.  There  are  no  apparent 
grounds  for  their  doing  so  beyond  the  necessity  of  finding  a 
spot  somewhere  which  should  support  their  hypothesis.  If, 
however,  they  must  have  a  second  Bethsaida,  I  should  rath¬ 
er  put  it  a  mile  farther  off,  at  Khan  Minieh,  instead  of  so 
very  close  to  Capernaum  as  this  would  be,  always  supposing 
Tell  Hum  to  be  Capernaum,  which  is  only  two  miles  distant 
from  this  spot.  Dr.  Thomson’s  theory  that  El-Tabghah,  the 
modern  name  of  this  place,  was  the  grand  manufacturing 
suburb  of  that  large  city,  from  which  its  fountain  took  its 
name,  seems  to  me  rational.  Here  were  the  mills,  not  only 
for  it,  but  for  all  the  neighbourhood;  so  also  the  potteries, 
tanneries,  and  other  operations  of  this  sort  would  be  clus¬ 
tered  around  these  great  fountains,  a  theory  somewhat  borne 
out  by  the  name,  Tabghah,  which  resembles  the  Arabic  word 
Dabbaga,  meaning  tannery. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  in  this  neighbourhood  somewhere, 
probably  on  the  plain  of  Genesareth,  was  the  location  of  a 
town  far  older  than  any  of  those  whose  sites  we  are  now  dis¬ 
cussing,  and  this  is  the  Chinneroth  mentioned  in  the  Old 
Testament,  from  which  the  lake,  in  daj^s  long  anterior  to 
those  of  Christ,  took  its  name,  and  which  the  Talmud  ren¬ 
ders  Ginizer,  which  is  therefore  doubtless  identical  with  Ge¬ 
nesareth.  Indeed,  it  may  be  noted  as  a  curious  fact,  which 
has  been  forced  upon  me  by  these  investigations,  that  the 
towns  noticed  in  the  Gospels,  excluding  the  large  cities, 
such  as  Jerusalem,  Tyre,  and  Sidon,  are  almost  all  places 
not  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament.  Nazareth  and  Caper¬ 
naum,  Bethsaida,  and  Chorazin  and  Tiberias  are  names  never 
occurring  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures;  and  the  scenery  of  the 
life  of  Christ  lies,  as  a  rule,  apart  from  the  centres,  religious 
or  political,  which  reappear  again  and  again  in  the  earlier 
episodes  of  Jewish  history. 


CAPERNAUM  AND  CHORAZIN. 


Haifa,  Jan.  20. — Perhaps  the  most  interesting  spot  in  the 
world  to  those  deeply  under  the  influence  of  that  charm 
which  association  lends  to  places  hallowed  by  the  ministra¬ 
tions  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity  is  to  be  found  in  a  des¬ 
ert,  rock-strewn  promontory  on  the  northwest  shore  of  the 
Lake  of  Tiberias;  for  among  these  piles  of  hewn  blocks  of 
black  basalt  still  remain  the  ruins  of  a  great  synagogue,  with¬ 
in  whose  walls,  the  foundations  of  wThich  may  still  be  dis¬ 
tinctly  traced,  were  collected  the  multitudes  who  flocked  to 
hear  the  teaching  of  Christ.  While  modern  tourists  resort 
in  crowds  to  Jerusalem  to  visit  the  mythical  sites  which  are 
supposed,  upon  the  vague  basis  of  ecclesiastical  tradition,  to 
be  identified  with  episodes  in  the  life  of  the  great  Teacher, 
scarcely  one  ever  finds  his  way  to  this  remote  locality  lying 
just  out  of  the  beaten  track  along  which  Cook  leads  his 
herds  of  sightseers;  and  yet  it  is  probable  that  the  greater 
part  of  that  period  in  the  life  of  Christ,  the  record  of  which 
is  contained  in  the  four  Gospels,  was  spent  at  Capernaum, 
which  the  most  careful  investigation,  by  the  highest  author¬ 
ities  in  such  matters,  has  identified  with  these  ruins  of  Tell 
Hum,  amid  which  I  was  just  now  standing.  Here  it  was 
that  Christ  cured  Peter’s  mother-in-law,  restored  the  para¬ 
lytic,  called  Matthew,  cured  the  centurion’s  servant,  raised 
Jairus’s  daughter  from  the  dead,  and  obtained  the  tribute 
of  money  from  the  mouth  of  a  fish.  It  was  here  that  he 
spoke  the  parables  of  the  sower,  the  tares,  the  treasure  hid 
in  the  field,  the  merchant  seeking  goodly  pearls,  and  the  net 
cast  into  the  sea.  Sir  Charles  Wilson,  whose  researches  on 
this  spot  led  him  to  identify  it  as  being  the  site  of  the  city 
of  Capernaum, believes  this  synagogue  was,  “without  doubt, 
the  one  built  by  the  Roman  centurion  (Luke  vii.  51),  and, 
therefore,  one  of  the  most  sacred  spots  on  earth.”  It  was 


CAPERNAUM  AND  CHORAZIN. 


229 


in  this  building,  if  that  be  the  case,  that  the  well-known  dis¬ 
course  contained  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  John  was  delivered; 
and  it  was  not  without  a  strange  feeling,  says  the  same  ex¬ 
plorer,  “  that,  on  turning  over  a  large  block,  we  found  the 
pot  of  manna  engraved  on  its  face,  and  remembered  the 
words:  “I  am  that  bread  of  life.  Your  fathers  did  eat 
manna  in  the  wilderness  and  are  dead.” 

This  very  synagogue  was  probably  the  scene  of  the  heal¬ 
ing  of  the  demoniac  and  of  the  delivery  of  many  of  those 
divine  lectures  on  faith,  humility,  brotherly  love,  and  for¬ 
mality  in  worship,  as  we  read  at  the  end  of  one  of  them: 
“These  things  said  he  in  the  synagogue  as  he  taught  in 
Capernaum.”  Perhaps  it  was  in  the  little  creek,  where  a  boat 
was  now  riding  at  anchor  only  a  few  feet  from  the  shore, 
that  Christ  taught  the  people  from  the  boat  so  as  to  avoid 
the  crush  of  the  multitude.  It  was  doubtless  in  one  of 
these  inlets  that  James,  the  son  of  Zebedee,  and  John,  his 
brother,  were  mending  their  nets  when,  being  called,  they 
left  their  ship  and  followed  him;  and  it  was  on  this  coast 
that  Andrew  and  Peter  were  casting  their  nets  when  they 
were  summoned  to  become  fishers  of  men.  It  has  a  high¬ 
er  claim  to  be  called  the  birthplace  of  the  religion  which 
has  since  revolutionized  the  world  than  any  other  spot  upon 
it;  arid  it  is  a  matter  of  some  surprise  to  me  that  neither  the 
Greek  nor  the  Roman  Catholic  churches,  in  their  zeal  to 
discover  holy  places,  which  may  serve  as  levers  for  political 
intrigue,  have  yet  thought  of  occupying  this  one,  which 
would  seem  the  holiest  of  all.  Perhaps  it  would  lead  to  a 
comparison  between  their  practice  and  the  teaching  of  which 
it  was  the  scene,  which  might  give  rise  to  some  inconvenient 
reflections. 

Apart  from  their  associations  the  ruins  themselves  are  not 
particularly  striking.  They  cover  an  area  of  about  half  a 
mile  in  length  by  a  quarter  in  breadth,  and  consist  chiefly 
of  the  black  blocks  of  basaltic  stone  which  formed  the  walls 
of  the  houses.  The  traces  of  the  synagogue,  however,  re¬ 
main  sufficiently  for  the  building  to  be  planned.  Built  of 
white  limestone  blocks,  it  must  have  formed  a  conspicuous 
object  amid  the  black  basalt  by  which  it  was  surrounded. 
It  was  seventy-five  feet  by  fifty-seven,  built  north  and  south, 


230 


HAIFA. 


and  at  the  southern  end  had  three  entrances.  Many  of  the 
columns  and  capitals  have  been  carried  away,  but  enough 
still  remain  to  convey  some  idea  of  the  general  plan  and 
aspect  of  the  building.  The  capitals  are  of  the  Corinthian 
order,  and  there  were  epistylia  that  rested  upon  the  columns 
and  probably  supported  wooden  rafters.  There  are  also  re¬ 
mains  of  a  heavy  cornice  and  frieze.  The  exterior  was  prob¬ 
ably  decorated  with  attached  pilasters. 

Two  miles  north  of  Capernaum  are  the  ruins  of  Chorazin. 
There  is  no  difficulty  in  identifying  the  site,  which  may  be 
determined  partly  by  the  itineraries  of  early  travellers,  and 
partly  by  the  similarity  of  the  modern  name,  Kirazeh.  The 
path  to  them  leads  up  the  sloping,  rocky  hillside,  but,  owing 
to  the  peculiar  character  of  the  masonry,  which  is  barely  to 
be  distinguished  at  one  hundred  yards  from  the  rocks  which 
surround  it,  the  extent  and  importance  of  these  ruins  have 
been  overlooked  until  quite  recently.  They  cover  an  area 
as  large  as,  if  not  larger  than,  those  of  Capernaum,  and  are 
situated  partly  in  a  shallow  valley,  partly  on  a  rocky  spur 
formed  by  a  sharp  bend  in  the  Wady  Kirazeh,  here  a  wild 
gorge  eighty  feet  deep.  From  this  spot  there  is  a  beautiful 
view  of  the  Lake  of  Tiberias  to  its  southern  end;  and  here, 
too,  are  gathered  the  most  interesting  ruins — a  synagogue 
with  Corinthian  capitals  and  niche-heads  cut,  not,  as  at  Ca¬ 
pernaum,  in  limestone,  but  in  hard  black  basalt.  The  di¬ 
mensions  of  this  building  are  about  the  same  as  those  of  the 
one  at  Capernaum,  but  the  interior  is  a  mass  of  ruins.  Two 
pedestals  still  remain  in  situ ,  and  a  portion  of  the  wall.  The 
characteristic  of  this  synagogue  is  an  excess  of  ornamenta¬ 
tion  of  rather  a  debased  kind.  The  niches  are  most  elabo¬ 
rate,  and  remain  as  sharp  as  when  they  were  cut  in  the  hard 
material  used.  The  mouldings  of  the  door-posts  are  similar 
to  those  used  in  other  synagogues,  and  there  are  many 
stones  cut  with  deep  mouldings  and  pieces  of  classical  cor¬ 
nices  strewn  among  the  ruins. 

Many  of  the  dwelling-houses  were  until  recently  in  a  toler¬ 
ably  perfect  state,  the  walls  being  in  some  cases  six  feet  high ; 
and,  as  they  are  probably  of  the  same  class  of  houses  as  that 
in  which  Christ  dwelt,  a  description  of  them  may  be  inter¬ 
esting.  They  are  generally  square,  of  different  sizes,  the 


CAPERNAUM  AND  CH  OR  AZIN. 


231 


largest,  however,  not  over  thirty  feet  square,  and  have  one  or 
two  columns  down  the  centre  to  support  the  roof,  which  ap¬ 
pears  to  have  been  flat,  as  in  the  modern  Arab  houses.  The 
walls  are  about  two  feet  thick,  built  of  masonry  or  of  loose 
blocks  of  basalt.  There  is  a  low  doorway  in  the  centre  of 
one  of  the  walls,  and  each  house  has  windows  twelve  inches 
high  and  six  wide.  In  one  or  two  cases  the  house  was  di¬ 
vided  into  four  chambers. 

We  now  pushed  on  to  the  point  where  the  Jordan  enters 
the  lake,  distant  about  three  miles,  for  it  was  only  on  the 
other  side  of  that  river  that  my  exploration  of  new  ground 
might  be  said  to  commence.  I  had  been  attracted  hither  by 
rumours  which  had  reached  me  of  a  remarkable  stone  which 
was  said  to  be  in  the  possession  of  an  Arab,  on  which  were 
pictorial  representations  and  inscriptions.  As  my  informa¬ 
tion  on  the  point  was  somewhat  vague,  I  rode  up  to  a  Bed¬ 
ouin  encampment,  near  which  was  also  a  collection  of  mud 
hovels  occupied  by  fellaheen,  which  were  situated  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  river.  They  were  naturally  so  suspicious 
that  I  pretended  at  first  to  be  merely  anxious  to  have  a 
guide  to  show  me  the  ford,  but  it  was  not  until  the  old 
sheik  himself  appeared  that  I  could  find  any  one  willing  to 
offer  me  the  slightest  assistance.  They  gazed  at  me  with 
open-mouthed  stupidity,  real  or  assumed,  and  the  sight  of 
silver  scarcely  moved  their  stolidity.  Far  different  was  it 
with  the  eagle-eyed  old  gentleman  who,  having  seen  the 
group  assembled  round  us,  strode  up  from  the  Bedouin  en¬ 
campment,  and  at  once  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  thing. 
Not  only  was  he  prepared  to  show  me  the  ford,  but,  for  ade¬ 
quate  consideration,  would  take  me  to  all  the  ruins  in  the 
neighbourhood,  with  the  positions  of  which  he  professed  an 
accurate  acquaintance,  if  I  wTould  only  wait  until  he  wrent 
for  his  horse.  This  I  was  only  too  happy  to  do,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  he  galloped  up  with  his  huflha  and  ctbbaye 
fluttering  in  the  wind,  a  genuine  son  of  the  desert.  We 
forded  the  Jordan  by  following  the  little  bar  which  it  makes 
on  entering  the  lake,  the  water  reaching  to  our  saddle-flaps, 
and,  following  the  shore,  here  a  grassy  plain  for  half  a  mile, 
reached  a  large  square  building,  charmingly  situated  near 
some  trees  on  the  margin  of  the  water.  This  was  the  gran- 


232 


HAIFA. 


ary  and  storehouse  of  the  great  Arab  proprietor  of  the 
neighbourhood,  the  only  building  with  any  pretensions  for 
miles  round;  and  it  was  the  local  agent  of  this  man,  himself 
a  resident  in  Damascus,  whom  I  now  found  to  be  in  posses¬ 
sion  of  the  relic  I  had  travelled  so  far  to  see.  My  disap¬ 
pointment  may  be  easily  conceived  when  I  was  told  that  he 
had  gone  to  Damascus,  and  would  not  return  for  a  week. 
My  disgust,  as  I  squatted  beneath  the  walls  of  this  detesta¬ 
ble  building,  making  a  lunch  off  hard-boiled  eggs,  and  re¬ 
volving  burglarious  schemes  of  entry,  all  of  which  came  to 
naught,  may  easily  be  imagined.  The  fact  that  the  build¬ 
ing  itself  was  surrounded  by  ruins  was  small  consolation, 
for  these  consisted  only  of  large  hewn  blocks  of  black  basalt, 
and  the  foundations  of  houses  which  were  clearly  to  be 
traced,  but  the  area  they  covered  was  not  extensive,  and  I 
could  not  find  any  indications  of  any  public  building.  The 
name  of  the  spot  is  El-Araj,  which  signifies  The  Lame,  but 
I  was  unable  to  identify  it  with  any  Biblical  locality. 


DISCOVERY  OF  AN  ANCIENT  SYNAGOGUE. 


Haifa,  Feb.  2. — I  narrated  in  my  last  letter  the  disappoint¬ 
ment  I  experienced  when,  after  making  a  pilgrimage  to  the 
north  end  of  the  Lake  of  Tiberias  for  the  express  purpose 
of  seeing  some  stones  covered  with  inscriptions  and  pictorial 
representations,  said  to  be  in  the  possession  of  the  agent  of 
a  rich  Arab  proprietor,  I  found  their  owner  gone  and  the 
relics  locked  up  in  a  building  of  which  he  had  taken  the  key, 
and  all  ingress  to  which  was  impossible.  The  Bedouin  sheik 
whom  I  had  picked  up  as  a  guide  at  a  neighboring  encamp¬ 
ment,  seeing  my  chagrin,  comforted  me  by  the  assurance 
that  if  I  would  only  follow  him  he  would  take  me  to  a  place 
where  I  could  find  others  which  were  quite  as  good.  I 
mounted  my  horse,  therefore,  in  somewhat  better  spirits,  as 
from  his  description  of  the  locality  I  knew  it  must  have 
escaped  the  attention  of  all  former  travellers,  and  consoled 
myself  by  the  reflection  that  a  discovery  of  some  importance 
might  still  be  in  store  for  me. 

Our  way  took  us  due  north  across  the  fertile  plain  of 
the  Buteha,  an  alluvial  expanse  about  two  miles  in  length 
by  one  in  breadth,  formed  by  the  detritus  which,  in  the 
course  of  ages,  has  been  washed  down  the  Jordan,  and  the 
winter  torrents  which  rush  into  the  plain  down  the  wadys 
that  descend  from  the  elevated  plateau  of  Jaulan. 

The  Buteha  is  not  unlike  the  plain  of  Genesareth.  Both 
are  well  watered  and  extremely  fertile.  Buteha  has  the 
largest  and  most  prominent  brooks,  Genesareth  the  most 
numerous  and  abundant  springs.  The  old  traveller,  Burck- 
hardt,  says  that  the  Arabs  of  the  Buteha  have  the  earliest 
cucumbers  and  melons  in  all  this  region.  It  was  on  this 
plain,  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  or  “  tell  ”  we  were  now  approach¬ 
ing,  that  Josephus  fought  the  Romans  under  Sylla,  concern¬ 
ing  which  battle  he  says:  “I  would  have  performed  great 


234 


HAIFA. 


things  that  day  if  a  certain  fate  had  not  been  my  hinderance, 
for  the  horse  on  which  I  rode  and  upon  whose  back  I  fought 
fell  into  a  quagmire  and  threw  me  to  the  ground,  and  I  was 
bruised  on  my  wrist  and  was  carried  into  a  certain  village 
called  Cuphernome  or  Capernaum.” 

The  tell  which  rises  from  this  plain,  about  a  mile  and  a 
half  from  the  lake,  is  thickly  strewn  with  ruins,  consisting 
of  hewn  blocks  of  black  basalt,  with  which,  in  the  ancient 
times,  all  the  houses  in  this  region  were  constructed;  but  as 
yet  no  traces  of  any  large  building  have  been  discovered. 
It  has,  indeed,  been  very  rarely  visited,  but  it  is  considered 
by  many  to  be  the  site  of  Bethsaida- Julias  and  the  scene  of 
the  miracle  of  the  loaves  and  fishes.  At  present  all  we 
know  for  certain  is  that  one  of  the  Bethsaidas  was  some¬ 
where  in  the  Buteha;  that  Josephus  in  his  descriptions  ad¬ 
vanced  it  to  the  dignity  of  a  city,  both  by  reason  of  the 
number  of  inhabitants  it  contained  and  its  other  grandeur; 
and  that  inasmuch  as  the  plain  of  the  Buteha  contains  many 
heaps  of  ruins,  none  of  any  very  great  extent,  any  of  them 
may  be  Bethsaida,  while  if  it  were  a  large  city  in  our  mod¬ 
ern  acceptation  of  the  term,  the  whole  plain  would  not  be 
large  enough  to  contain  it. 

Indeed,  one  is  much  struck  in  exploring  the  ruins  of  the 
country  by  the  limited  areas  which  they  cover.  I  am  afraid 
to  say  how  many  sites  of  ruined  towns  I  have  visited  in 
Palestine,  certainly  not  less  than  forty;  and  I  think  one 
could  crowd  them  all  into  the  area  occupied  by  the  ruins  of 
one  large  ancient  Egyptian  city — Arsinoe  in  the  Fayoum, 
for  instance  ;  but  then  the  ruins  of  an  Egyptian  city  are 
composed  mainly  of  mounds  of  potsherds,  while  these  con¬ 
sist  of  large  blocks  of  building  stone,  either  limestone  or 
basalt,  measuring  generally  two  feet  or  two  feet  six  one 
way,  and  a  foot  or  eighteen  inches  the  other.  Then  they 
are  usually  comparatively  near  together;  all  around  the  Lake 
of  Tiberias,  and  in  the  country  in  its  vicinity,  they  are  gen¬ 
erally  not  more  than  from  one  to  three  miles  apart;  so  that 
this  section  of  country  must  have  been  very  thickly  peopled. 
The  ruins  of  Et-Tell  are  now  built  over  by  the  Arabs,  who 
live  in  a  squalid  village  among  the  basalt  blocks  which 
formed  the  mansions  inhabited  by  the  more  highly  civil- 


DISCOVERY  OF  AN  ANCIENT  SYNAGOGUE.  235 


ized  race  which  occupied  the  country  in  the  days  when  all 
this  region  was  the  favourite  haunt  of  Christ  and  his  dis¬ 
ciples. 

Leaving  Et-Tell  on  our  left,  we  followed  the  east  hank  of 
the  Jordan  for  more  than  a  mile.  This  river  is  here  very 
rapid,  and,  splitting  into  numerous  streams,  whirls  past  the 
small  islets  they  form.  It  is  the  very  ideal  of  a  trout  stream, 
on  which  on  some  more  propitious  occasion  I  propose  to 
cast  a  fly.  Meantime,  even  had  I  been  provided  with  the 
requisite  tackle,  I  should  have  been  obliged  to  forego  the 
temptation.  It  was  on  the  steep  rise  of  a  hill,  about  a  hun¬ 
dred  yards  from  the  river,  that  my  guide  suddenly  stopped. 
Here  was  a  small  collection  of  Arab  hovels,  recently  con¬ 
structed,  and  it  was  in  their  search  for  stone,  last  summer, 
that  the  natives  had  for  the  first  time  uncovered  the  ruin 
which  now  met  my  delighted  gaze. 

I  found  myself  in  the  presence  of  a  building  the  character 
of  which  I  had  yet  to  determine,  the  walls  of  which  were 
still  standing  to  a  height  of  eight  feet.  The  area  they  en¬ 
closed  was  thickly  strewn  with  building-stones,  fragments 
of  columns,  pedestals,  capitals,  and  cornices.  Two  at  least 
of  the  columns  were  in  situ ,  while  the  bases  of  others  were 
too  much  concealed  by  piles  of  stone  to  enable  me  to  deter¬ 
mine  their  original  positions.  My  first  impression,  from  the 
character  of  the  architecture  which  was  strewn  about,  was 
that  this  was  formerly  a  Roman  temple;  but  a  further  and 
more  careful  examination  convinced  me  that  it  had  origi¬ 
nally  been  a  Jewish  synagogue,  which  at  a  later  period  had 
been  converted  to  another  use;  probably  it  had  been  ap¬ 
propriated  by  the  Byzantines  as  a  basilica,  or  Christian 
church.  This  was  the  more  probable,  as  the  existing  walls 
had  evidently  been  built  upon  the  foundations  of  a  former 
structure.  The  massive  stones  were  set  in  mortar,  which 
is  not  the  case  with  the  synagogues  hitherto  discovered; 
and  I  should  doubtless  have  been  completely  at  fault  in 
classing  this  building  had  my  attention  not  been  already 
directed  to  the  remains  of  the  synagogues  brought  to  light 
recently  by  the  exertions  of  the  Palestine  Exploration 
Fund. 

I  was  now  fortunately  in  a  position  to  compare  the  dimen- 


236 


HAIFA. 


sions,  ground-plan,  and  architectural  fragments  which  were 
strewn  about,  with  those  which  distinguish  the  synagogues 
already  discovered,  in  regard  to  whose  original  character 
there  can  be  no  doubt,  as  the  Hebrew  inscriptions  and  sacred 
Jewish  symbols  carved  on  the  lintels  prove  it.  The  build¬ 
ing  measured  forty-five  feet  by  thirty-three,  which  is  exactly 
the  measurement  of  the  small  synagogue  at  Kefr-Birim. 
The  columns  were  exactly  of  the  same  diameter.  The  floor 
was  depressed,  and  reached  by  a  descent  of  two  steps,  which 
were  carried  around  the  building  in  benches  or  seats  each  a 
foot  high,  the  face  of  the  upper  one  ornamented  by  a  thin 
scroll  of  floral  tracery.  These  features  occur  in  the  syna¬ 
gogue  at  Xrbid.  There  was  a  single  large  stone  cut  into  the 
shape  of  an  arch,  which  had  evidently  been  placed  on  the 
lintel  of  the  principal  entrance,  like  the  one  which  stands  to 
this  day  over  the  doorway  of  the  great  synagogue  at  Kefr- 
Birim.  The  niches,  with  the  great  scallop-shell  pattern 
which  distinguishes  them,  almost  exactly  resemble  those  of 
the  synagogue  of  Kerazeh  or  Chorazin;  while  the  cornice, 
which  was  extremely  florid,  and  not  unlike  what  in  modern 
parlance  is  called  “  the  egg-and-dart  pattern,”  though  differ¬ 
ing  in  some  respects  from  the  cornices  hitherto  observed, 
was  evidently  of  the  same  school  of  design.  The  capitals 
were  two  feet  three  inches  high,  and  Corinthian,  in  the  same 
style  and  of  the  same  dimensions  as  those  of  the  small  syna¬ 
gogue  of  Kefr-Birim,  and  there  was  the  upper  fragment  of 
two  semi-attached  fluted  columns,  with  Doric  capitals,  the 
ditto  of  which  is  to  be  found  at  Irbid.  The  two  columns  in 
situ  exactly  answer  in  position  those  of  several  of  the  syna¬ 
gogues,  and  though  the  position  of  the  door,  which  was  in 
the  centre  of  the  western  wall,  was  somewhat  unusual,  this 
was  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  building  had  been 
excavated  from  the  hillside,  so  that  the  top  of  the  east  wall, 
nine  feet  of  which  was  still  standing,  was  level  with  the  sur¬ 
face  of  the  slope  of  the  hill. 

The  only  convenient  entrance  was  in  the  wall  of  the  side 
immediately  opposite  to  it.  The  name  of  this  most  interest¬ 
ing  locality  was  ed-Dikkeh,  a  spot  hitherto  unvisited  by  any 
traveller.  Indeed,  if  it  had  been  visited,  it  would  have  been 
passed  unnoticed,  for  its  antiquarian  treasures  have  only 


DISCOVERY  OF  AN  ANCIENT  SYNAGOGUE.  237 

been  revealed  for  the  first  time  a  few  months  ago.  The 
word  ed-Dikkeh  means  “platform,”  a  name,  considering  its 
position,  not  inappropriate ;  but  I  have  not  been  able  to 
identify  it  with  any  Biblical  site. 

The  area  of  ruins  apart  from  those  of  the  synagogue 
itself  was  not  very  large,  but  the  situation  was  highly  pict¬ 
uresque.  Half  a  mile  to  the  north  of  where  we  stood  the 
Jordan  forces  its  way  through  a  gorge  which  I  hope  some 
day  to  explore,  while  immediately  below  us  it  rushed  be¬ 
tween  numerous  small  islets.  Opposite  the  hills  swelled 
gently  back  from  its  western  bank,  behind  us  they  rose 
more  abruptly  to  the  high  table-land  of  Jaulan,  while  to  the 
southward  stretched  the  plain  of  Buteha,  with  the  Lake  of 
Tiberias  in  the  distance. 

o  Meantime  the  few  wild-looking  natives  who  inhabit  this 
remote  locality  clustered  around  me,  as  they  watched  me 
measuring  and  sketching,  with  no  little  suspicion  and  alarm. 
“  See,”  said  one  to  another,  “  our  country  is  being  taken 
from  us.”  My  request  for  old  coins  only  frightened  them 
the  more.  They  vehemently  protested  that  not  one  had 
been  found,  an  assertion  which,  under  the  circumstances,  I 
felt  sure  was  untrue;  nor  did  the  most  gentle  and  reassuring 
lan ornate,  with  tenders  of  backshish — which  was  neverthe- 
less  greedily  accepted — tend  to  allay  their  fears.  I  have 
forgotten  to  mention  Avhat  was  perhaps  the  most  interesting 
object  of  all,  and  this  was  the  carved  figure  of  a  winged 
female  waving  what  seemed  to  be  a  sheaf  in  one  hand,  while 
her  leers  were  doubled  backward  in  a  most  uncomfortable 
and  ungraceful  position.  It  was  on  an  isolated  slab  about 
six  inches  thick,  and  two  feet  one  way  by  eighteen  inches 
the  other. 

The  area  of  the  hillside  all  around  was  strewn  with  the 
blocks  of  building-stone  of  which  the  town  had  been  built. 
It  had  apparently  not  been  a  very  large  place,  but  as  the 
villagers  will  probably  continue  their  excavations  for  their 
own  purposes  next  summer,  it  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  they 
may  bring  some  more  interesting  remains  to  light.  I  ear¬ 
nestly  impressed  upon  them  the  necessity  of  preserving 
these,  promising  another  visit  next  year,  when  I  would  reward 
them  in  proportion  to  the  carvings,  coins,  or  other  antiqui- 


238 


HAIFA. 


ties  they  could  provide  for  me;  but  they  listened  to  my  ex¬ 
hortation  with  such  a  stupid  and  suspicious  expression  of 
countenance  that  I  did  not  derive  much  encouragement  from 
their  reluctant  consent. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  RUINS  OF 

SYNAGOGUES. 


Haifa,  Feb.  16. — I  described  in  my  last  letter  the  discov¬ 
ery  of  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  Jewish  synagogue  at  a  spot 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Jordan,  about  three  miles  north  of 
the  upper  end  of  the  Lake  of  Tiberias.  As  the  question  of 
ancient  Jewish  synagogues  is  one  of  great  interest,  in  re¬ 
gard  to  which  considerable  misapprehension  prevails  even 
among  archaeologists,  I  may  be  excused  for  entering  upon  a 
short  disquisition  upon  the  subject,  as  I  am  not  aware  that 
the  great  light  which  has  been  thrown  upon  it  by  recent 
Palestinian  research  has  yet  been  distributed  in  a  popular 
form  to  the  general  public,  and  the  old  and  recognized  au¬ 
thorities  are  often  misleading.  For  example,  “Smith’s  Dic¬ 
tionary  of  the  Bible  ”  contains  a  long  article  on  Jewish  syna¬ 
gogues  which  has  hitherto  been  considered  the  great  author¬ 
ity  on  the  subject,  in  which  I  observe  that  it  states  under 
the  sub-head  “Structure:” 

“  Its  position,  however,  was  determined.  It  stood,  if  possible,  on  the  high¬ 
est  ground  in  or  near  the  city  to  which  it  belonged.  Its  direction,  too,  was 
fixed.  Jerusalem  was  the  Ivibleh  of  Jewish  devotion.  The  synagogue  was 
so  constructed  that  the  worshippers,  as  they  entered  and  as  they  prayed, 
looked  towards  it.” 

This  may  have  been  the  case  in  respect  of  the  earlier  syn¬ 
agogues,  long  anterior  to  the  time  of  Christ,  the  traces  of 
which  have  been  lost,  but  in  the  case  of  eleven  which  have 
been  discovered  by  the  officers  of  the  Palestine  Exploration 
Fund,  since  the  above  was  written,  no  such  rules  have  been 
adhered  to.  These  all  date  either  from  the  time  of  Christ, 
or  shortly  before  it,  to  three  centuries  after  it.  We  know 
they  were  synagogues,  and  can  approximately  calculate 
their  dates,  from  the  Hebrew  inscriptions  found  on  some  of 
them,  and  from  the  emblems  with  which  they  were  orna- 


240 


HAIFA. 


merited,  such  as  the  pot  of  marina,  the  seven-branched  can¬ 
dlestick,  and  other  purely  Jewish  devices.  In  the  cases  of 
these  synagogues,  many  of  which  I  have  seen,  the  builders 
have  by  no  means  selected  the  most  prominent  positions ; 
the  existing  remains  have,  with  two  exceptions — at  Irbid  and 
at  ed-Dikkeh,  where  the  ground  would  not  admit  of  such  an 
arrangement — their  doors  on  the  southern  side,  so  that  every 
Jew  entering  would  have  to  turn  his  back  on  Jerusalem. 
The  ark,  if  there  was  one  in  these  synagogues,  would  neces¬ 
sarily,  in  that  case,  be  placed  at  the  northern  end,  and  the 
worshippers  would  therefore  have  to  pray  with  their  backs 
to  Jerusalem. 

We  know,  besides,  how  abhorrent  to  the  Jews  were  the 
figures  of  animals,  and  the  popular  impression  has  been  that 
none  such  were  permitted  to  decorate  their  synagogues;  yet 
in  these  synagogues  we  find  them  prominently  carved  in 
stone  in  six  out  of  the  eleven.  The  carved  figure  I  found 
at  ed-Dikkeh  makes  a  seventh,  and  they  probably  existed  in 
the  others  and  in  greater  quantities  than  those  already  noted, 
but  have  been  destroyed  by  the  Mohammedans  as  contrary 
to  their  religion.  As  may  be  supposed,  as  they  were  all 
built  at  nearly  the  same  period,  there  is  a  great  similarity 
in  the  architecture  of  the  synagogues  recently  discovered. 
It  is  of  an  extremely  florid  and  somewhat  debased  Roman 
type.  In  all  of  them  the  same  class  of  mouldings  is  observa¬ 
ble.  There  is  a  great  resemblance  in  the  niches  and  cornices, 
while  the  capitals  show  some  variation,  being  Corinthian, 
Doric,  and  Ionic.  There  is  also  a  great  similarity  in  the 
ground  plan  and  in  the  position  of  the  columns.  In  the 
case  of  a  Roman  temple  these  are  all  in  colonnades  outside 
the  building,  in  cases  of  synagogues  they  are  all  within  it. 
There  should  be  no  possibility,  therefore,  of  confusing  a  syn¬ 
agogue  with  a  Roman  temple,  even  though  it  abounds  with 
Roman  architecture;  but  it  is  not  always  so  easy  to  distin¬ 
guish  it  from  an  early  Christian  church,  or  basilica,  where 
the  columns  were  also  inside.  The  reason  that  the  archi¬ 
tecture  of  these  latter  synagogues  was  so  purely  Roman  in 
character  is  to  be  found  in  the  conditions  under  which  they 
were  built.  Shortly  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by 
the  Romans,  the  Jewish  Sanhedrim  was  established  at  Tibc- 


CHA RA CTFRISTICS  OF  R UINS  OF  SYNA  GOG UFS.  241 


rias,  under  a  patriarchate  whose  authority  was  recognized 
by  the  foreign  communities  at  Rome  and  in  Asia  Minor, 
and  large  numbers  of  these  came  to  live  in  the  district, 
while  alms  poured  into  the  treasury  at  Tiberias  from  all  di¬ 
rections.  It  thus  became  very  wealthy,  and  the  centre  of  a 
great  Jewish  population.  It  was  recognized  by  the  Romans, 
and  by  them  granted  many  indulgences,  and,  during  the 
reign  of  Antoninus  Pius,  a.d.  138-161,  increased  in  power 
and  influence. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  the  Jews  were  in 
high  favor  with  the  Emperor  Alexander  Severus,  who  was 
even  called  the  Father  of  the  Synagogue,  and  this  name 
may  have  been  given  him  from  his  influence  over  the  erec¬ 
tion  and  architecture  of  these  buildings.  It  seems,  there¬ 
fore,  almost  a  certainty  that  the  Roman  emperors  aided  and 
inspired  the  erection  of  these  synagogues.  They  were  built 
by  Roman  labor,  for  the  Jews,  being  immersed  in  commer¬ 
cial  pursuits,  by  using  Roman  workmen,  obtained  much  finer 
results  than  we  are  led  to  think  they  would  themselves  have 
been  capable  of.  No  synagogues  of  the  kind  have  been 
found  in  other  countries,  though  there  were  many  in  Baby¬ 
lon  and  in  the  colonies  of  the  Jews,  and  this  type  has  never 
been  perpetuated  in  later  works,  while  we  have  seen  how 
many  points  in  their  religion  were  disregarded  in  their  de¬ 
sign  and  ornamentation.  We  may  therefore  suppose  that 
they  were  forced  upon  the  people  by  their  Roman  rulers  at 
a  time  when  they  were  completely  submissive  to  their  power, 
and  directly  they  were  able  they  deserted  such  pagan  build¬ 
ings  as  a  disloyalty  to  their  religion.  It  is  stated  that  Rab¬ 
bi  Simon,  son  of  Jochai,  is  the  founder  of  many  of  these 
buildings.  Indeed,  it  is  related  that  he  built  with  his  own 
money  twenty-four  synagogues  in  this  part  of  the  country. 
As  he  was  a  most  fanatical  teacher  of  the  law,  it  is  evident 
that  if  he  erected  so  many  buildings  in  such  violent  contra¬ 
diction  to  many  points  of  his  own  religion,  he  must  have 
done  it  under  great  pressure.  These  synagogues  built  un¬ 
der  Roman  auspices  were  probably  only  an  alternative  evil; 
they  had  to  choose  between  having  them  or  none  at  all. 
With  the  exception  of  one  on  Carmel,  and  a  problematical 
one  at  Shefr-Amr,  about  six  miles  from  Haifa,  all  the  syna- 
10 


242 


HAIFA. 


gogues  hitherto  found  have  been  within  the  immediate  lim¬ 
its  of  what  was  formerly  the  patriarchate  of  Tiberias.  The 
fact  that  the  building  at  ed-Dikkeh  would  be  included  in 
this  district  is  an  additional  reason  for  assuming  it  to  have 
been  one  of  this  class  of  synagogues,  and,  if  so,  we  should 
probably  be  accurate  in  fixing  its  date  at  somewhere  in  the 
first  or  second  century  after  Christ. 

From  ed-Dikkeh  I  proceeded  under  the  guidance  of  the 
old  sheik,  who  was  much  pleased  at  the  satisfaction  which  I 
evinced  at  his  successful  leadership  thus  far,  in  an  easterly 
direction  to  another  place,  where  he  assured  me  that  the 
villagers  had  also  been  at  work  getting  out  stone  during  the 
summer,  and  had  unearthed  some  more  old  ruins.  Our  way 
led  us  along  the  flank  of  the  Jaulan  hills,  with  the  plain  of 
the  Buteha  on  our  right,  and,  after  a  ride  of  about  an  hour, 
we  reached  a  village  of  huts,  in  the  midst  of  which  wTas  the 
anticipated  excavation.  I  could  not  quite  expect  such  an¬ 
other  stroke  of  luck  as  that  which  had  befallen  me  at  ed- 
Dikkeh,  but  yet  I  had  no  reason  to  be  dissatisfied.  Here,  upon 
a  terrace  built  of  large  blocks  of  basalt  about  five  inches  in 
height,  I  found  a  curious  condition  of  things.  The  villagers 
had  laid  bare,  eighteen  inches  below  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
the  cement  floor  of  an  old  chamber  about  twenty  feet  in  one 
direction.  I  could  not  tell  how  far  it  went  in  the  other,  as 
it  was  still  covered  with  earth,  but  where  it  abruptly  termi¬ 
nated  it  revealed,  about  eighteen  inches  beneath,  another 
floor  of  some  building  of  much  older  date,  across  which  it 
had  been  built  diagonally.  This  floor  was  of  stone.  It,  too, 
had  been  cleared  for  some  distance  by  the  natives,  and  upon 
it  was  standing,  at  intervals  of  six  feet  apart,  five  solid  cubes 
of  stone,  measuring  two  feet  each  way,  which  had  probably 
been  the  foundations  or  lower  stones  on  which  had  been 
placed  the  pedestals  of  columns.  As  this  lowest  floor  was 
three  feet  below  the  present  surface  of  the  ground,  the  top 
of  these  stones  was  one  foot  below  it,  and  the  line  of  them 
may  have  continued,  though  only  five  had  been  uncovered. 
I  have  no  means  of  conjecturing  what  the  building  may 
have  been.  I  found  many  fragments  of  columns  and  capi¬ 
tals  strewn  around  among  the  ruins,  which  covered  a  larger 
area  than  those  at  ed-Dikkeh,  and  which,  like  them,  are  a  new 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  RUINS  OF  SYNAGOGUES.  243 


discovery,  though  what  its  results  may  be  must  depend  very 
much  upon  further  excavation.  I  impressed  upon  the  vil¬ 
lagers  here,  as  I  had  already  done  at  ed-Dikkeh,  if,  in  the 
course  of  their  excavating  for  stone,  they  came  upon  any 
with  inscriptions  or  pictorial  representations,  to  preserve 
them;  but  I  felt,  as  I  did  so,  that  my  words  fell  upon  deaf 
or  rather  unwilling  ears.  They  gazed  at  me  with  alarmed 
stolidity,  either  not  understanding  or  not  caring  to  under¬ 
stand,  and  evidently  dominated  by  the  fixed  impression  that 
my  proceedings  implied  in  some  way  the  future  ownership 
of  the  soil.  I  looked  from  here  wistfully  up  a  valley,  at  the 
mouth  of  which  this  ruin  was  situated,  and  at  the  head  of 
which  others  were  reported  to  exist,  but  circumstances  pre¬ 
vented  me  at  the  time  from  pushing  my  explorations  in  this 
direction.  Indeed,  travel  in  this  part  of  the  country  is  at¬ 
tended  with  many  difficulties,  some  political  and  some  mate¬ 
rial,  among  the  latter  the  chief  one  being,  if  one  is  unpro¬ 
vided  with  a  tent,  the  question  of  where  one  is  to  spend  the 
night.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  one  is  provided  with  a  tent, 
it  involves  a  much  larger  retinue,  increased  expense,  excites 
even  more  distrust  among  the  natives,  and  becomes  some¬ 
times  dangerous  from  arousing  their  cupidity,  and  this  ne¬ 
cessitates  having  guards  and  escorts,  which  are  the  cause  of 
endless  quarrels  and  annoyance,  as  the  more  people  you  have 
with  you  the  less  are  you  your  own  master  to  go  where  you 
like,  and  the  more  difficult  it  is  to  provide  for  man  and  beast. 
It  is  a  choice  of  evils  at  best  of  times,  and  the  worry  and  dis¬ 
comfort  can  only  be  compensated  for  by  good  luck  in  ob¬ 
taining  results,  and  this  is  by  no  means  always  to  be  secured, 
though  thus  far  on  this  particular  journey  I  had  had  no  rea¬ 
son  to  complain.  I  now  propose  to  tempt  fate  on  the  high¬ 
lands  to  the  east  of  Lake  Tiberias,  with  what  success  remains 
to  be  seen. 


A  NIGHT  ADVENTURE  NEAR  THE  LAKE  OF 

TIBERIAS. 


Haifa,  February  28. — The  tourist  who  follows  the  ordi¬ 
nary  track  of  Palestine  travel  from  Jerusalem  to  Damascus 

•/ 

inevitably  passes  Tiberias.  Standing  on  the  flat  roof  of  the 
convent,  where,  if  he  is  not  one  of  a  Cook’s  party,  he  is  com¬ 
pelled  to  lodge,  he  has  a  splendid  view  of  the  lake  and  of 
the  precipitous  cliffs  opposite,  which  descend  abruptly  to  its 
margin  from  the  elevated  plateau  behind,  that  averages  two 
thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  lake.  That  sheet  of 
water  being  nearly  eight  hundred  feet  below  the  sea-level, 
the  only  engineering  problem  which  presents  itself  to  the 
consideration  of  the  surveyors  who  have  been  engaged  in 
tracing  a  railroad  line  between  Haifa  and  Damascus  is  how 
to  ascend  from  this  depression  to  the  highlands  above. 

The  solution  of  the  problem  is  to  be  found  in  a  large  wide 
valley  called  the  Wady  Samak,  which  is  exactly  opposite 
Tiberias,  and  up  the  unknown  recesses  of  which  our  tourist 
looks  with  longing  eyes.  Practically  this  wady  is  a  sealed 
book  to  the  Palestine  traveller.  To  explore  it  he  would  have 
to  obtain  special  permission  from  the  government,  with  a 
guard,  and  be  exposed  to  all  manner  of  extortion  from  his 
dragoman,  who  would  take  advantage  of  his  ignorance  to 
magnify  the  dangers  and  add  to  the  already  existing  ob¬ 
stacles.  Indeed,  one  of  the  most  singular  characteristics  of 
Palestine  travel  is  the  close  proximity  of  unknown  and  un¬ 
explored  districts  to  beaten  tracks.  Just  as  it  often  happens 
in  a  large  city,  that  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  one 
of  the  most  frequented  thoroughfares  there  are  back  slums 
inhabited  by  thieves  and  criminals,  into  which  no  respectable 
person  penetrates,  so,  in  Palestine,  within  ten  miles  of  a 
place  like  Tiberias,  there  are  spots  as  yet  untrodden  by  the 
foot  of  the  explorer;  but  these  are  all  to  the  east  of  the  lake 


NIGHT  AID  VENTURE  NEAR  THE  LAKE  OF  TIBERIAS.  245 

and  of  the  Jordan.  Almost  every  inch  of  western  Palestine 
has  succumbed  to  the  exhaustive  researches  of  the  Palestine 
Exploration  Fund. 

It  was  on  a  gloomy  winter  afternoon  that  I  found  myself 
skirting  the  eastern  shore  of  the  lake  with  the  view  of  at¬ 
tacking  the  mysteries  of  this  interesting  valley — interesting 
from  a  practical  point  of  view,  because  I  wanted  to  look  at 
the  possible  gradients  which  it  might  offer  for  a  railway, 
and  still  more  interesting  from  an  archaeological  point  of 
view,  because  I  felt  sure  that  in  searching  for  gradients  I 
should  find  ruins.  But  the  search  was  undertaken  under 
difficulties.  I  was  without  a  tent,  because  my  journey  par¬ 
took  of  the  nature  of  an  exploratory  dash,  and  a  tent  would 
have  been  an  encumbrance.  I  was  'without  a  guide,  because 
my  guide  had  deserted  me  in  consequence  of  one  of  those 
misunderstandings  which  are  not  uncommon  between  travel¬ 
lers  and  their  guides;  but  I  had  two  companions,  baggage 
animal  and  servant,  and  an  amiable  soldier,  upon  whom,  in 
case  of  trouble,  it  was  supposed  we  should  be  able  to  rely 
for  protection  and  aid. 

Owing  to  a  variety  of  causes,  principally  arising  from  a 
desire  to  find  ruins  where  there  were  none,  and  to  map  cer¬ 
tain  wadys  which  are  incorrectly  laid  down  in  the  maps,  we 
were  about  two  hours  later  than  we  should  have  been  when 
we  reached  the  mouth  of  the  wady.  The  clouds  were  lower¬ 
ing  ominously,  there  had  been  no  sun  all  day,  and  now  that 
luminary  seemed  to  have  given  up  the  attempt  to  shine  upon 
us  in  despair,  and  to  have  made  up  his  mind,  in  a  fit  of  dis¬ 
gust,  to  retire  permanently  to  rest.  I  felt,  considering  the 
journey  up  the  unknown  wady,  which  we  still  had  to  perform 
without  a  guide  before  I  could  hope  to  reach  a  resting-place 
(I  did  not  look  forward  to  its  being  much  of  a  sleeping- 
place),  that  it  had  no  business  to  get  dark  so  early.  How¬ 
ever,  it  was  still  broad  daylight,  and  we  took  our  bearings 
by  compass  as  carefully  as  was  possible,  and  were  encouraged 
by  observing  that  the  track  we  were  on  was  a  broad  and 
’  well-beaten  one,  and  which,  as  the  formation  was  white  lime¬ 
stone,  would  show  plainly  even  when  it  got  dark.  The  val¬ 
ley  I  knew  to  be  about  seven  miles  long.  The  village  we 
were  bound  for,  the  only  village  in  it  or  near  it,  was  at  its 


246 


HAIFA. 


head.  We  had  only  to  keep  going  straight  up,  and  the  path 
we  were  on  would  surely  lead  us  to  it. 

This  fond  delusion  I  hugged  to  my  soul  as  we  pushed  on 
as  rapidly  as  our  wearied  steeds,  which  had  been  travelling 
since  daybreak,  would  allow  us.  The  breadth  of  the  valley 
in  a  bee-line  from  one  edge  of  the  plateau  above  us  to  the 
other  was  not  less  than  two  miles.  It  was  a  broad  valley, 
with  many  shoulders  running  into  it  from  both  sides,  and 
terraces  here  and  there  of  cultivated  land,  the  crops  the 
property  of  wandering  Bedouins,  who  come  here  in  winter 
to  sow  them,  and  come  back  in  spring  to  gather  them. 
Down  the  centre  of  the  valley  brawled,  over  a  rocky  bed,  a 
mountain  brook,  even  in  the  dryest  season  a  respectable 
trout  stream,  and  often  after  heavy  rains  an  impassable  tor¬ 
rent.  On  the  present  occasion,  however,  it  was  behaving 
itself  respectably,  and  gave  us  no  trouble.  It  was  fringed 
with  oleanders,  and  here  and  there  received  tiny  tributaries, 
which  all  helped  to  produce  more  vegetation  than  is  usual  in 
Palestine  valleys,  and  to  enhance  the  beauty  of  scenery  the 
natural  features  of  which  were  strikingly  picturesque.  As 
long  as  it  was  light  I  could  see  natural  terraces  on  the  flanks 
of  the  valley,  up  which  it  would  be  easy  to  take  the  line. 
Then  I  saw  where  long  curves  must  be  taken,  winding  up 
lateral  hollows,  through  which  we  could  twist  the  line  up 
the  two  thousand  feet  it  had  to  ascend,  and  lengthen  out  the 
seven  miles  of  the  wady  to  a  distance  which  would  suffice 
for  the  required  gradient. 

Assuredly  when  that  long-looked-for  and  much-to-be-de¬ 
sired  line  is  made,  the  stretch  up  the  Wady  Samak  will  be 
one  of  the  most  romantic  and  interesting  sections  upon  it, 
while  its  well-watered  slopes  will  doubtless  tempt  the  specu¬ 
lative  agriculturist  or  stock-farmer  to  intrude  upon  domains 
now  appropriated  by  a  few  wandering  Arabs,  whose  scanty 
flocks  might  be  increased  tenfold  without  consuming  half  its 
pasture,  and  who  do  not  cultivate  a  tithe  of  its  fertile  soil. 

While  thus  indulging  in  airy  imaginings  of  the  future, 
darkness  gradually  closed  in,  and  I  became  suddenly  aware, ' 
as  so  often  happens  in  this  world,  that  all  my  calculations 
would  have  been  sound  in  regard  to  my  finding  my  way  if 
they  had  not  been  based  upon  thoroughly  delusive  premises. 


NIGHT  ADVENTURE  NEAR  THE  LAKE  OF  TIBERIAS.  247 


The  cause  of  my  error  may  be  summed  up  in  the  one  word, 
basalt.  I  had  forgotten  one  of  the  most  remarkable  geo¬ 
logical  features  of  this  part  of  the  country,  and  this  is,  that 
only  the  lower  stratum  of  the  range  which  rises  from  the 
east  shore  of  Lake  Tiberias  is  of  limestone.  All  the  rest  is 
basaltic,  and  this  formation  is  of  vast  thickness.  The  whole 
of  this  district  is,  indeed,  an  immense  volcanic  field,  consist¬ 
ing  of  irregular  heaps  of  amorphous  lava  and  disintegrating 
scoriae,  with  mounds  of  globular  basalt.  So  that  wThen  dark¬ 
ness  came  on  everything  below  me,  as  well  as  all  above, 
seemed  suddenly  to  have  become  as  black  as  night.  The 
path  had  disappeared  as  if  by  magic,  and  I  called  a  halt,  and 
we  found  ourselves  on  a  patch  of  black  rock,  with  exactly 
similar  patches  of  black  rock  all  around  us.  The  outlines  of 
the  hills  had  vanished,  the  path  had  led  us  up  from  the  bed 
of  the  torrent,  so  we  no  longer  had  that  to  guide  us.  To  at¬ 
tempt  to  descend  to  it  would  have  been  madness,  as  we  might 
have  fallen  over  a  precipice  in  the  darkness;  indeed,  we  were 
afraid  to  move,  except  with  extreme  caution,  in  any  direction. 
We  had  a  compass  and  matches,  and  knew  that  by  keeping 
due  south  we  might,  if  no  accident  befell  us,  and  the  rocks 
permitted  a  passage,  ultimately  reach  the  plateau;  but  we 
also  knew  that  the  direction  of  our  night-quarters  was  due 
east;  but  here  we  ran  the  greater  risk  of  tumbling  into  un¬ 
known  transverse  gorges  with  precipitous  cliffs.  We  cau¬ 
tiously  worked  south,  but  our  progress  soon  became  barred 
by  thorny  brushwood,  and  we  had  to  face  the  alternative  of 
a  night  out-of-doors  without  water  or  anything  to  drink,  and 
a  very  limited  supply  of  food. 

We  were  just  bracing  ourselves  to  this  unpleasant  pros¬ 
pect,  when,  in  a  southwesterly  direction,  we  suddenly  saw  a 
gleam  of  light;  it  lasted  for  a  moment,  then  seemed  to  go 
out.  But  that  one  ray  was  one  of  hope,  and  we  steered  cau¬ 
tiously  for  it.  We  had  been  scrambling  by  compass  in  the 
dark  for  about  half  an  hour,  and  were  just  beginning  to  de¬ 
spair,  when  the  bark  of  a  distant  dog  put  new  energy  into  us, 
and  not  long  after,  around  the  shoulder  of  a  hill,  we  came 
upon  an  encampment,  and  were  greeted  by  the  furious  yells 
of  the  mob  of  noisy  curs  which  infest  the  tents  of  the  Bed¬ 
ouins.  It  was  a  startling  apparition  to  burst  upon  these 


248 


HAIFA. 


nomads  in  their  remote  retreat — horsemen  of  a  type  they  had 
never  seen  before,  and  an  armed  soldier.  Such  children  as 
were  awake  set  up  a  dismal  squalling,  the  women  cowered 
tremblingly  over  their  camp-fires  under  the  pent  roof  of  black 
camels’  hair.  All  the  side  of  the  tent  being  open,  its  whole 
internal  economy  was  exposed  to  view,  and  enabled  us  to 
judge  of  the  slight  protection  in  the  way  of  bedding  or 
clothing  or  covering  of  any  sort  which  was  provided  against 
the  inclemency  of  the  season. 

Meantime  the  men  had  gathered  round  us,  half  timidly, 
half  threateningly.  The  presence  of  the  soldier  suggested 
fear  and  suspicion,  while  the  smallness  of  our  party  encour¬ 
aged  the  bolder  ones  to  look  defiant.  As  far  as  I  could 
make  out  in  the  darkness  there  were  about  a  dozen  tents 
here  in  all — apparently  the  fag  end  of  an  insignificant  tribe 
whose  name  I  forget.  It  was  at  first  impossible  to  induce 
any  one  at  that  late  hour  to  act  as  guide.  Even  abundant 
offers  of  backshish  failed  to  shake  their  suspicion,  which 
was  to  the  effect  that  we  wished  to  decoy  one  into  durance 
to  act  as  a  hostage  until  some  arrears  of  taxes  which  they 
owed  the  government  should  be  paid  up. 

The  other  alternative  was  that  we  should  take  up  our 
quarters  in  the  sheik’s  tent,  whether  he  liked  it  or  not,  which, 
with  a  piercing  wind  blowing,  accompanied  by  sleet,  was 
not  a  very  pleasant  prospect.  He  seemed  to  relish  it  as  little 
as  we  did,  and  finally  consented  to  be  our  guide  as  we  made 
some  silver  gleam  in  the  firelight.  As  he  seized  his  eighteen- 
foot  lance  and  mounted  his  racked  steed  he  looked  like  some 
Arab  Don  Quixote;  and  as  the  camp-fire  threw  its  ruddy 
glow  upon  a  group  of  wild-looking  women,  with  dishevelled 
hair  and  tattooed  chins,  crooning  over  a  pot  like  the  witches 
of  “  Macbeth,”  and  upon  barelegged  men,  as  they  flitted  to 
and  fro  between  the  black  tents,  I  thought  I  had  seldom 
gazed  upon  a  more  weird  and  unreal-looking  scene. 

How  our  guide  could  find  his  way  up  the  rocky  hillside 
and  across  the  prairie  remained  a  mystery  during  the  long 
two  hours  that  we  followed  him.  Of  this  I  feel  sure,  that 
we  scrambled  up  places  in  the  dark  that  we  should  never 
have  thought  of  facing  by  daylight.  The  very  horses 
seemed  to  have  become  desperate,  and  to  have  abandoned 


NIGHT  ADVENTURE  NEAR  THE  LAKE  OF  TIBERIAS.  249 

themselves  to  their  fate.  At  last  we  dismounted  and  scaled 
the  rocks  like  goats,  every  one,  man  or  beast,  doing  the  best 
he  could  for  himself  on  his  own  account,  and  so  at  last, 
wearied  and  half-starved,  for  we  had  fasted  for  about  ten 
hours,  we  reached  the  goal  of  our  endeavour,  too  tired  to 
see  what  an  utterly  miserable  hole  it  was. 

I  passed  a  wretched  night  in  a  room  in  the  middle  of 
which  a  tire  had  been  built,  which  filled  it  with  smoke,  for 
it  had  no  other  exit  but  the  door,  which  it  was  too  cold  to 
keep  open.  Around  the  fire  were  stretched  fifteen  Arabs, 
who  quarrelled  with  a  government  official,  whom  they  were 
compelled  to  entertain,  about  their  taxes,  until  they  exhausted 
themselves,  and  then  they  exchanged  their  discordant  wrang¬ 
ling  for  no  less  discordant  snoring.  After  replenishing  ex¬ 
hausted  nature  with  the  eggs  which  was  all  that  my  host 
could  provide  me  with,  and  a  tin  of  canned  meat,  I  vainly 
tried  to  follow  their  example,  but  was  too  busily  occupied 
in  scratching  to  think  of  anything  but  fleas,  and  so  tossed 
and  tumbled  and  longed  for  the  morning,  when  I  proposed 
to  enter  upon  a  new  field  of  exploration,  for  this  was  the 
village  of  El-Al,  where  I  had  heard  that  rums  existed;  and 
as  I  had  every  reason  to  believe  that  in  ancient  times  this 
neighbourhood  had  been  the  centre  of  a  large  population, 
I  felt  sure  that  they  had  left  interesting  traces,  which  were 
yet  to  be  discovered. 


Haifa,  March  15. — There  is  no  part  of  ancient  Palestine 
which  offers  a  more  fertile  field  for  antiquarian  research  than 
that  portion  lying  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan,  which  fell  to 
the  share  of  the  half-tribe  of  Manasseh.  In  Biblical  times 
a  part  of  it  was  called  Golan,  and  its  modern  name  of  Jaulan 
is. almost  identical  with  its  ancient  appellation.  It  is  to  this 
day  the  finest  grazing  land  in  all  Palestine,  as  it  was  in  the 
days  of  old,  when  Job  fed  his  vast  flocks  and  herds  upon  its 
more  eastern  pastures,  but  it  is  now  very  sparsely  inhabited. 
The  sedentary  population  has  all  been  driven  away  by  the 
wandering  tribes  of  Bedouins  who  have  appropriated  the 
country;  the  very  few  villages  that  remain  are  squalid  and 
miserable,  and  the  inhabitants  live  in  terror  for  their  lives, 
for  they  never  know  what  day,  or  rather  night,  the  Arabs 
may  not  be  down  upon  them,  and  carry  off  their  stock. 
They  surround  their  houses,  therefore,  with  large  yards  en¬ 
closed  by  stone  walls,  and  it  was  in  one  of  these  that  I  found 
a  lodging  on  the  night  that  I  had  so  nearly  been  obliged  to 
spend  in  the  wilds  of  the  Wady  Samak.  Attached  to  these 
yards  are  large  stone  vaults,  capable  of  containing  great 
herds  of  cattle,  and  some  of  them  apparently  of  great  an¬ 
tiquity.  In  the  one  in  which  I  staked  my  horses  I  found, 
on  examining  it  in  the  morning,  part  of  a  Corinthian  column, 
still  in  situ ,  standing  to  a  height  of  about  six  feet.  I  failed 
to  discover  any  more,  but  the  vault  was  so  dark  that  mv 
examination  was  carried  on  with  difficulty,  and  I  had  no  time 
to  spend  over  it.  The  sheik’s  house  in  which  I  lodged,  and 
to  which  this  vault  belonged,  was  evidently,  however,  built 
on  the  site  of  what  had  formerly  been  a  building  of  some  im-  . 
portance,  for  in  the  yard,  to  my  surprise  and  delight,  I  came 
upon  a  prostrate  statue  of  a  woman,  life  size.  The  head  was 
severed  from  the  body,  and  the  feet  had  been  broken  off  at 


KHISFIN. 


251 


the  ankles,  but  it  was  a  line  specimen  of  Greek  statuary. 
Both  the  features  and  the  drapery  were  beautifully  executed. 
The  feet  I  found  in  situ ,  the  ankles  just  appearing  on  a  level 
with  the  ground.  On  clearing  this  away  I  laid  bare  the  feet, 
which  were  still  firmly  fixed  on  the  original  pedestal,  which 
it  would  have  required  a  great  deal  of  labour  to  disinter.  It 
is  not  improbable  that  the  pedestal  is  covered  with  carving 
in  basso  relievo ,  and  I  promise  myself  at  some  future  time  to 
dig  it  up.  In  the  meantime  both  feet  and  pedestal  cannot 
be  safer  than  where  they  are,  more  especially  as  my  com¬ 
panions  secured  the  head.  This  the  sheik  was  induced  to 
part  with  for  $3.  The  body  was  too  cumbersome  to  carry 
away  now,  as  a  camel  would  have  been  needed  for  its  trans¬ 
port,  and,  as  it  is  not  of  much  value  without  the  head,  it  may 
be  considered  secured  by  the  possession  of  that  portion. 

The  statue  apparently  represented  Artemis,  as  the  left  arm 
clasped  what  seemed  to  be  a  quiver  for  arrows.  The  right 
arm  was  unfortunately  broken  away,  otherwise  the  statue 
would  be  perfect  when  put  together.  The  pedestal,  without 
doubt,  contains  an  inscription  describing  the  statue  and  the 
goddess  represented  upon  it.  I  was  sorely  tempted  to  de¬ 
vote  a  day  to  its  examination,  but,  in  that  case,  I  should 
have  been  compelled  to  give  up  visiting  some  other  spots  of 
interest  which  had  never  before  been  investigated,  and  the 
hardships  and  discomforts  of  these  preliminary  dashes  into 
the  wilds,  more  especially  in  the  depth  of  winter,  are  so 
great  that  one  is  not  tempted  to  prolong  them — my  present 
object  being  rather  to  know  where  to  go  at  some  future  time, 
when  the  conditions,  political  and  otherwise,  may  be  more 
favourable  than  they  are  now.  I  therefore  did  not  linger 
longer  than  was  absolutely  necessary  at  this  place.  I  had 
seen  enough  to  prove  to  me  that  it  would,  in  all  probability, 
amply  repay  a  fuller  investigation,  and  I  determined  with¬ 
out  delay  to  push  on  to  a  village  called  Khisfin,  which  I  was 
extremely  anxious  to  examine,  as  it  has  hitherto  escaped  the 
careful  attention  of  all  former  travellers.  And  yet,  from 
the  records  which  I  have  been  able  to  examine  in  regard  to 
it,  it  must  have  been  a  place  of  considerable  importance  in 
mediaeval  history,  though  hitherto  my  efforts  to  trace  it  back 
to  an  earlier  date  than  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  century 


252 


HAIFA. 


or  to  identify  it  with  any  Biblical  site  have  been  in  vain. 
Yakubi,  an  Arab  geographer,  who  lived  about  the  year  900 
a.ix,  mentions  it  as  one  of  the  chief  towns  of  the  province 
of  the  Jordan.  In  his  day  Syria  was  divided  into  three  prov¬ 
inces,  namely:  The  province  of  Damascus,  the  province  of 
the  Jordan,  and  the  province  of  Palestine.  Yakut,  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  mentions  it  as  a  town  of  the  Hauran  dis¬ 
trict,  below  Nawa  on  the  Damascus  road,  between  Nawa 
and  the  Jordan.  Khisfin  was  also  at  one  time  a  fortress  of 
the  Saracens,  as  it  is  further  mentioned  as  the  place  to  which 
A1  Melek  Al  Adil,  Saladin’s  son  and  successor,  lied  after 
having  been  routed  at  the  battle  of  Beisan  by  the  Crusaders, 
who  advanced  upon  him  from  Acre.  As  it  is  mentioned  as 
being  one  of  the  chief  towns  of  the  province,  so  long  ago  as 
900  a.d.,  it  is  probable  that  its  importance  dates  from  a 
much  older  period,  as  indeed  was  indicated  by  some  of  the 
ornamentation  which  I  found  there. 

Securing  my  host,  the  sheik,  as  a  guide  to  a  locality  which 
promised  to  be  so  full  of  interest,  we  started  at  a  brisk  pace 
across  the  plateau,  in  the  teeth  of  a  bitterly  cold  east  wind 
and  driving  sleet,  and,  after  riding  an  hour,  came  to  the 
ruins  of  Kab,  situated  on  a  small  mound.  They  consist  of 
blocks  of  basalt  building-stone,  some  traces  of  foundations, 
some  fragments  of  columns  and  capitals,  and  a  tank,  dry  at 
the  time  of  my  visit,  but  which  evidently  held  water  at  some 
time  of  the  year.  It  had,  apparently,  been  much  deeper  at 
a  former  period,  only  the  two  upper  courses  of  masonry  being 
now  visible.  It  was  oval  in  shape,  and  measured  sixty  yards 
by  thirty.  This  place  does  not  appear  to  have  been  pre¬ 
viously  visited  or  described.  Shortly  after  leaving  it  I  ob¬ 
served  masses  of  black  stone,  which,  on  nearer  approach, 
proved  to  be  the  walls  of  a  fortress  that,  my  guide  told  me, 
was  Khisfin  itself.  It  loomed  strikingly  up  from  the  grassy 
plain,  and  gave  rise  to  pleasing  anticipations  as  I  galloped 
impatiently  up  to  the  base  of  the  walls,  and,  jumping  off  my 
horse  without  even  waiting  to  tether  him,  in  my  excitement, 
scrambled  up  a  breach  to  see  what  Avas  inside.  I  looked 
down  upon  a  ruin-strewn  area,  but,  alas,  no  columns,  noi 
capitals,  nor  signs  of  Roman  remains.  This  had  evidently 
been  in  turn  a  Saracen  and  a  Crusading  construction.  The 


KHISFIN, ; 


253 


outer  walls  measured  sixty-eight  yards  one  way  by  fifty-four 
the  other.  They  are  nine  feet  in  thickness,  and  are  eight 
courses  of  stone  in  height,  the  stones  being  from  one  foot 
to  one  foot  six  inches  square;  but  some  are  much  larger. 
Within  the  fort  are  the  traces  of  a  second  or  inner  wall, 
forming  a  sort  of  keep  in  the  centre;  but  the  whole  area 
was  too  much  encumbered  with  ruin  for  any  accurate  plan 
to  be  possible  in  the  limited  time  at  my  disposal. 

A  little  beyond  the  fort  stood  the  village  itself.  All  the 
intervening  and  surrounding  fields  were  thickly  strewn  with 
the  large  hewn  blocks  of  black  basalt  of  which  the  houses 
of  the  former  population  had  been  constructed,  and  which, 
to  judge  from  the  area  which  they  covered,  quite  justified 
the  description  of  Yakubi,  that  in  his  day  this  was  one  of 
the  chief  towns  of  the  province,  and  the  centre  of  a  very 
large  population.  The  present  squalid  inhabitants,  few  in 
number,  seemed  to  live  in  a  perfect  quarry  of  these  old 
building-blocks.  Yo  difficulty  had  they  in  finding  material 
wherewith  to  build  their  houses,  their  large  cattle  vaults, 
and  enclosing  yards.  They  simply  piled  the  tumbled  masses 
of  stone  in  a  little  more  regular  order,  one  above  another, 
to  make  walls  of  any  height  or  thickness  they  chose,  with¬ 
out  mortar  or  cement,  and  had  houses  that  would  last  for¬ 
ever.  As  all  the  stones  were  beautifully  squared  and  shaped, 
they  had  far  more  symmetrical  walls,  thanks  to  the  ancients, 
than  if  they  had  been  left  to  themselves.  These  black,  mas¬ 
sive  huts  all  jumbled  together  with  their  vaults  and  yards, 
without  regular  streets  or  lanes,  formed  one  of  the  strangest 
looking  villages  I  ever  saw.  In  some  cases  the  walls  wTere 
formed  of  stones  placed  diagonally,  in  others  horizontally, 
in  others  perpendicularly.  The  very  roofs  were  of  stone, 
with  earth  on  the  top  of  them  to  fill  up  the  cracks.  Where 
hewn  stone  is  so  abundant  and  wood  almost  impossible  to 
obtain,  it  is  astonishing  what  uses  the  former  can  be  put 
to.  And  now  came  a  search  which  I  would  willingly  have 
protracted  over  days  instead  of  over  minutes,  which  were 
all  I  had  to  give  to  it.  To  “  do  ”  Khisfin  thoroughly  one 
ought  to  examine  carefully  every  stone  in  every  house,  be¬ 
sides  the  acres  of  stones  by  which  the  present  village  is  sur¬ 
rounded.  As  it  was,  I  went  into  as  many  houses  as  I  had 


254 


HAIFA. 


time  for,  and  made  sketches  of  what  ornamentation  I  found. 
The  natives  had  evidently  used  as  lintels  for  their  doorways 
the  stones  which  had  served  the  ancients  for  the  same  pur¬ 
pose.  These  were  usually  four  or  even  five  feet  long,  and 
many  of  them  were  ornamented  with  curious  devices.  They 
were  in  part  Crusading  and  in  part  Saracenic.  There  were 
the  tablets  with  half-effaced  escutcheons,  rosettes,  bosses, 
crosses,  and  other  Crusading  emblems,  which  left  no  doubt 
in  my  mind  that  this  must  have  been  at  one  time  an  impor¬ 
tant  Crusading  fortress,  though  in  the  only  book  relating  to 
the  crusades  which  I  happen  to  have  by  me  no  mention  is 
made  of  it.  There  were  several  of  those  curious  carvings, 
difficult  to  describe,  which  characterize  Saracenic  architec¬ 
ture  as  an  evidence  that  the  Moslem  conquerors  of  the  cru¬ 
saders  had  also  had  a  hand  in  its  adornment;  but  what  was 
more  interesting,  there  were  floral  wreaths  and  carved  de¬ 
vices  which  are  a  feature  in  Byzantine  art,  which  gave  clear 
evidence  that  before  the  conquest  of  this  province  from  the 
Byzantine  empire  in  the  seventh  century  it  had  been  an  im¬ 
portant  city  of  that  civilization  which  immediately  succeeded 
the  Roman. 

The  important  question  which  I  could  not  determine  was 
whether,  in  the  old  Roman  times,  it  had  been  a  place  of  note. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  a  future  examination,  of  a 
more  minute  character  than  I  was  able  to  give,  would  deter¬ 
mine  this  point,  and  it  is  not  at  all  impossible  that  upon  the 
old  stones  might  be  found  seven-branched  candlesticks,  pots 
of  manna,  or  emblems  of  a  still  older  date,  which  would 
carry  it  back  to  J ewish  times.  Meanwhile  I  looked  anxious¬ 
ly,  but  in  vain,  for  an  inscription  which  might  throw  some 
light  on  the  subject,  and  it  is  certain  that  amid  such  a  mass 
of  ruin  such  are  to  be  found.  All  my  inquiries  for  old  coins 
only  tended  to  alarm  the  villagers,  who  looked  on  my  pro¬ 
ceedings  with  their  usual  suspicion,  and  associated  my  visit 
and  my  desire  for  old  money  with  their  taxes,  which  is  the 
only  idea  that  the  fellah  of  Palestine  seems  able  to  connect 
with  the  visit  of  a  prying  and  inquisitive  stranger.  The 
whole  of  the  country  which  surrounds  Ivhisfin  is  susceptible 
of  the  highest  degree  of  cultivation;  the  land  is  eminently 
fertile  and  almost  a  dead  level,  capable  of  producing  abun- 


KH1SFIN, ; 


255 


dant  crops,  if  there  were  any  people  to  cultivate  it.  As  it 
is,  it  is  allowed  to  run  to  waste.  It  affords  pasture  to  their 
flocks,  but  these  are  scanty,  through  fear  of  the  Arabs,  and 
the  people,  unable  to  rely  upon  the  government  for  protec¬ 
tion,  and,  indeed,  being  only  aware  that  there  is  a  govern¬ 
ment  through  its  tax-gatherers,  are  sullen  and  suspicious 
and  discouraged,  and  utterly  without  energy  to  do  more 
than  provide  themselves  with  the  barest  necessaries  of  life. 


FURTHER  EXPLORATION  AND  DISCOVERY. 


Haifa,  March  31. — From  Khisfin,  the  ruins  of  which  I 
described  in  my  last  letter,  I  struck  off  in  a  westerly  direc¬ 
tion  under  the  guidance  of  the  sheik  who  had  been  my 
host  the  night  before,  and  who,  now  that  he  was  convinced 
that  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  tax-gathering,  and  was  only 
possessed  by  what  must  have  seemed  to  him  an  insane  desire 
to  find  old  stones  and  make  pictures  of  them,  took  an  evi¬ 
dent  pleasure  in  ministering  to  such  a  harmless  form  of  in¬ 
sanity;  in  fact  he  became  quite  a  bore  on  the  subject.  As 
he  was  naturally  unable  to  appreciate  any  distinction  be¬ 
tween  one  old  stone  and  another,  he  was  constantly  making 
me  ride  out  of  my  way  to  look  at  some  weather-beaten  piece 
of  basalt  which  had  a  fancied  resemblance  to  a  wild  animal; 
or  to  a  mound,  the  ruins  on  which  belonged  to  a  village  that 
had  been  deserted  within  the  last  twenty  years.  Still  I 
never  could  afford  to  treat  his  assurances  with  indifference, 
as  there  was  always  the  possibility,  until  I  satisfied  myself 
to  the  contrary,  that  the  stones  to  which  he  was  guiding  me 
might  possess  interest;  and  indeed  on  one  occasion  they  did, 
for  they  turned  out  to  be  the  ruins  of  a  Roman  town,  where 
a  few  fragments  of  columns  and  capitals  still  remained  to 
bear  testimony  to  the  particular  civilization  to  which  they 
belonged,  and  which,  although  they  did  not  present  any 
striking  architectural  features — indeed,  the  remains  were 
somewhat  insignificant — it  was  always  a  satisfaction  to  have 
been  the  first  to  discover.  The  name  of  these  ruins  was 
Esfera. 

Near  them  a  very  singular  and  unpleasant  accident  oc¬ 
curred  to  me.  I  rode  my  horse  to  drink  at  what  seemed  a 
muddy  puddle,  which  was  about  ten  or  twelve  feet  in  diam¬ 
eter.  Instead  of  being  content  to  drink  at  the  margin,  he 
took  two  steps  into  it,  and  suddenly  disappeared  head  first; 


FUR  THER  EXPL  ORA  T10N  AND  DISCO  VER  Y. 


257 


that  is,  his  head  disappeared,  his  hind-quarters  remained  for 
a  moment  poised  above  the  water  just  long  enough  to  en¬ 
able  me  to  throw  myself  off  backward  into  about  two  feet 
of  puddle.  We  had  walked  into  an  overflowed  well.  When 
his  hind-quarters  at  last  went  down  into  it  his  head  came 
up,  or,  at  all  events,  as  much  of  it  as  was  required  for 
breathing  and  snorting,  which  he  did  prodigiously,  evidently 
in  a  panic  of  terror,  while  I  stood  drenched  and  shivering  on 
the  bank  in  the  cold  east  wind  and  sleet,  wondering  how  we 
were  ever  to  get  him  out.  The  poor  beast  was  out  of  his 
depth,  but  the  dimensions  of  the  well  were  too  limited  to 
enable  him  to  swim,  or  even  to  scramble  freely.  Fortu¬ 
nately  I  had  sent  on  my  saddlebags  by  my  servant,  or  the 
animal  would  have  been  hopelessly  weighted  down.  As  it 
was,  it  was  only  by  the  united  efforts  of  the  party  tugging 
at  the  bridle  and  stirrup-leathers  that,  after  many  futile 
efforts,  at  the  end  of  each  of  which  he  fell  back  and  for  a 
moment  disappeared  altogether,  we  ultimately  succeeded  in 
extricating  him.  Meantime  my  own  plight  was  in  the  last 
degree  unenviable,  the  more  especially  as  I  was  not  in  very 
good  health  at  the  time,  a  consideration  which  induced  my 
companion,  with  a  truly  commendable  devotion,  to  take  off 
his  nether  garments  and  insist  on  my  wearing  them  instead 
of  my  own,  while  he  performed  the  remainder  of  the  day’s 
journey  in  the  slight  protection  which  he  wore  beneath 
them. 

It  was  in  this  guise,  and  while  still  discussing  my  strange 
mishap,  that  our  attention  was  suddenly  arrested  by  finding 
ourselves  surrounded  by  what  are  perhaps  the  most  interest¬ 
ing  of  antiquarian  objects,  a  number  of  dolmens.  In  a  very 
limited  area — none  of  them  were  over  two  hundred  yards 
apart — I  counted  twenty.  The  subject  of  these  rude  stone 
monuments  of  a  prehistoric  age  is  so  interesting  that  I  will 
venture  on  a  few  words  in  regard  to  them. 

The  most  remarkable  point  about  Syrian  dolmens  is,  that 
while  they  have  been  found  in  numbers  to  the  east  of  the 
Jordan,  not  one  has  been  discovered  in  Judea  or  Samaria, 
and  only  two  or  three  in  Galilee;  and  those  are  doubtful 
specimens.  Indeed,  it  is  only  of  late  years  that  they  have 
attracted  the  notice  of  explorers  east  of  the  Jordan  ;  but 
17 


258 


HAIFA. 


since  attention  lias  been  specially  directed  to  tlie  subject, 
we  have  constantly  been  having  new  discoveries.  Six  years 
ago  I  found  one  of  the  first  at  a  spot  not  more  than  twenty 
miles  from  the  hitherto  unknown  field  I  had  now  come  upon. 
That  dolmen  stood  alone,  and  being  previously  unaware  of 
their  existence  in  this  part  of  the  world,  I  examined  it  with 
the  greatest  interest.  Since  then  Captain  Conder,  during 
his  hurried  survey  in  Moab,  has  found  above  seven  hundred 
in  that  part  of  the  country,  and  the  result  has  been  that  the 
controversy  as  to  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  designed 
has  been  reopened  with  renewed  vigor. 

The  dolmen,  which  usually  consists  of  three  perpendicular 
stones  forming  three  sides  of  a  small  chamber,  with  a  single 
huge  covering  slab  as  its  roof,  is  found  in  almost  every  part 
of  the  world  except  America,  though  I  saw  a  notice  in  a 
paper  the  other  day  of  one  having  been  discovered  in  Mis¬ 
souri.  There  are  stone  monuments  in  Central  America,  I  be¬ 
lieve,  somewhat  resembling  them,  but  I  am  not  aware  that 
the  point  has  been  satisfactorily  determined,  and  it  is  of  the 
highest  interest  that  it  should  be,  as  it  would  establish  the 
existence  of  general  contact  between  the  universal  families 
of  that  ancient  stock  which  preceded  both  the  Aryan  and 
Semitic  races,  and  which  belonged,  therefore,  to  the  illiter¬ 
ate  and  prehistoric  age  of  the  use  of  bronze  and  of  flint. 

Dolmens  have  been  found  in  almost  every  country  in 
Europe.  They  are  numerous  in  the  British  Isles,  France, 
Denmark,  Sweden,  Norway,  Prussia,  and  the  south  of  Rus¬ 
sia.  I  have  myself  found  them  in  the  mountains  of  Circas¬ 
sia,  and  they  exist  in  Italy,  Spain,  and  Portugal,  in  great 
numbers  in  Algeria  and  the  north  coast  of  Africa,  in  Asia 
Minor  and  India,  and  we  have  recently  heard  of  them  in 
Japan!  Wherever  they  exist  are  generally  to  be  found 
menhirs,  or  single  monolithic  stones,  and  stone  circles,  such 
as  Stonehenge  in  England,  or  long  rows  of  standing  stones, 
such  as  those  to  be  found  at  Carnac  in  Brittany,  or  smaller 
stone  circles,  such  as  are  common  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan. 
Those  found  in  Syria  are  generally  placed  in  a  position  com¬ 
manding  an  extensive  view  and  in  close  proximity  to  water. 
They  are  either  “  free  standing,”  that  is,  quite  alone  and 
isolated,  or  they  are  covered  by  cairns  of  stones;  or  they 


FURTHER  EXPLORATION  AND  DISCOVERY.  259 


are,  as  the  majority  were  in  this  instance,  perched  upon 
piles  of  stones. 

It  has  been  hitherto  supposed  that  in  all  these  cases  they 
were  sepulchral  monuments,  but  it  has  been  recently  sug¬ 
gested  that  those  alone  beneath  the  cairns  may  have  served 
this  purpose,  and  those  which  were  free  standing  or  on  cairns 
may  have  been  used  as  altars.  The  basis  for  this  conjecture 
consists  in  the  fact  that  the  flat  covering  stones  of  the  Syrian 
dolmens  are  very  often  provided  with  cups  or  hollows, which 
may  have  served  to  hold  sacrificial  oil;  and,  moreover,  the 
free  standing  dolmens  are  often  on  smooth  rock,  so  that  it 
would  not  be  possible  to  inter  a  body  beneath  them.  I  have 
seen  the  covering  slab  to  be  as  large  as  eleven  feet  long  by 
five  wide,  though  those  in  the  field  I  was  now  examining 
were  much  smaller,  some  of  the  covering  stones  not  being 
above  five  feet  by  three  or  four;  this  was  probably  owing 
to  their  being  of  basalt,  which  is  much  heavier  than  ordi¬ 
nary  stone.  Nearly  all  were  trilithons,  the  covering  slab 
being  sometimes  held  in  position  by  pebbles  inserted  under 
it;  and  in  many  instances  they  appeared  to  have  a  slight 
slant  which  was  not  the  result  of  accident. 

The  natives  here  call  them  “  Jews’  burial-grounds,”  show¬ 
ing  that  the  local  tradition  is  in  favor  of  their  being  sepul¬ 
chral  monuments,  though  it  is  very  certain  they  date  from  a 
period  long  anterior  to  the  Jews.  Indeed,  the  probability  is 
that  the  disappearance  of  these  monuments  from  western 
Palestine,  where  they  no  doubt  existed,  is  due  to  the  com¬ 
mand  to  destroy  heathen  monuments.  Thus,  in  Deuteronomy, 
we  find  again  and  again  repeated  injunctions  to  overthrow 
the  Canaanite  altars,  and  to  break  or  smash  their  pillars. 
These  exhortations  we  find  carried  into  practice  by  Ileze- 
kiah  and  Josiah  in  Judea,  and  as  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy 
was  held  sacred  by  the  ten  tribes  as  well  as  by  the  two,  we 
are  justified  in  supposing  that  they  carried  out  the  order  in 
Samaria  and  Galilee.  But  the  land  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan 
always  contained  a  mixed  population,  over  which  the  kings 
of  Israel  and  Judah  exercised  but  little  control.  Baal  wor¬ 
ship  was  rife  in  Bashan,  Gilead,  and  Moab  in  the  days  of 
Jeremiah,  and  the  reforming  zeal  of  Hezekiah  did  not  affect 
the  land  where  Chemosh  and  Ishtar,  Baal,  Peor,  Nebo,  and 


260 


HAIFA. 


Meni  yet  continued  to  be  worshipped.  This  accounts  for 
dolmens  not  having  been  found,  except  with  a  few  doubtful 
specimens,  in  Galilee  to  the  west  of  the  Jordan. 

With  the  exception  of  the  roughly  excavated  hollows  in 
the  covering  slab,  these  rude  stone  monuments  of  Syria 
have,  so  far  as  is  known,  neither  ornamentation  nor  rune  nor 
other  mark  of  the  engraver’s  tool.  In  comparatively  few 
instances  they  are  made  of  hewn  stone,  very  roughly  cut, 
but  generally  they  are  of  natural  blocks  and  slabs  entirely 
unformed.  Thus,  if  there  be  any  comparative  scale  of  an¬ 
tiquity  on  which  we  can  rely  connected  with  the  finish  of 
the  monument,  the  Syrian  dolmens  may  claim  to  be  consid¬ 
ered  among  the  oldest  of  their  kind.  % 

The  word  “dolmen,”  usually  rendered  table-stone,  should, 
according  to  Max  Muller,  be  more  properly  translated 
“  holed  ”  stone,  implying  either  a  gateway,  such  as  is  formed 
by  the  trilithon,  or  else  applying  to  menhirs  and  dolmens 
pierced  with  a  hole,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Ring  stone,  the 
Odin  stone,  and  a  peculiar  class  of  holed  dolmens.  The  one 
I  saw  in  Circassia  was  of  this  latter  category.  Instead  of 
three  stones  supporting  the  covering  slab,  as  is  almost  inva¬ 
riably  the  case  in  Syria,  there  were  four,  and  in  the  centre 
of  the  fourth  was  a  circular  hole,  about  eighteen  inches  in 
diameter,  or  just  large  enough  to  allow  a  thin  man  to 
squeeze  through.  Some  have  supposed  these  holes  to  be 
connected  with  some  sacrificial  rite,  others  to  be  due  to  the 
superstition  that  the  dead  could  not  rest  in  peace  in  tombs 
without  an  inlet  for  air.  But  the  whole  subject  is  encom¬ 
passed  with  mystery,  and  affords  material  for  endless  con¬ 
jecture. 

So  also  do  the  sacred  stone  circles,  of  which  I  have  seen 
several  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan.  They  are  held  in  the 
greatest  veneration  by  the  Arabs,  who  can  give  no  rational 
explanation  of  the  sacred  character  they  possess,  except  that 
they  have  been  sacred  from  immemorial  time.  Here,  again, 
these  may  either  have  originally  had  a  sepulchral  character, 
or  they  may  have  had  reference  to  that  peculiar  and  most 
ancient  worship  of  which  the  menhir  or  monolith  was  the 
emblem,  for  in  some  instances  menhirs  are  placed  in  certain 
fixed  positions  in  regard  to  the  circles,  or  they  may  have 


FUR  THER  EXPL  ORA  TION  AND  DISCO  VER  Y.  261 


had  an  astronomical  significance.  It  is  singular  that  to 
this  day  the  reverential  attitude  of  the  Arab  is  outside  of 
the  circle  with  his  face  to  the  rising  sun,  while  in  India  the 
same  circles  are  to  be  found  among  the  Khonds  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  the  worship  of  the  rising  sun,  the  tallest  member 
of  the  circle  being  towards  the  east. 

The  conclusions  at  which  we  may  proximately  arrive  with 
reference  to  these  interesting  monuments  are  —  according 
to  Captain  Conder,  to  whose  researches  I  am  indebted  for 
many  of  the  foregoing  remarks — that  the  menhir  is  the  em¬ 
blem  of  the  earliest  religious  idea  suggested  by  the  crea¬ 
tive  potency;  that  the  circle  may  either  have  a  sacred  sig¬ 
nificance  connected  therewith,  or  be  a  sepulchral  enclosure; 
that  the  dolmen,  when  free  standing,  is  more  likely  to  have 
been  an  altar  than  a  tomb,  but  when  buried  beneath  a  cairn 
it  may  have  been  sepulchral;  that  the  cairn  is  not  always 
sepulchral,  being  sometimes  a  memorial  heap;  and  that  all 
are  relics  of  a  long-buried  past. 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  VMM  EL-KAHATAR. 


Haifa,  March  20. — When  we  had  sufficiently  satisfied  our 
curiosity  with  regard  to  the  dolmens,  which  I  described  in  my 
last  letter,  the  sheik  who  was  our  guide  disappeared  suddenly 
over  the  edge  of  the  plateau  on  which  they  stood,  down  what 
seemed  to  be  a  precipice  of  black  basalt.  His  reply  to  our 
anxious  inquiry  as  to  whither  he  was  leading  us — “  to  very 
old  stones,  with  writing  on  them  — was  a  talismanic  utter¬ 
ance  which  at  once  overcame  all  hesitatfon.  On  such  occa¬ 
sions  there  rises  in  the  mind  of  the  cold  and  weary  and  half- 
starving  traveller  (and  I  answered  to  this  description  at  the 
moment)  visions  of  possible  Moabite  stones,  trilingual  in¬ 
scriptions,  and  all  the  other  prizes  which  reward  successful 
Palestine  research.  I  felt,  therefore,  ready  to  make  any 
plunge  into  unknown  depths  that  he  might  choose  to  sug¬ 
gest,  but  certainly  this  was  a  bad  one.  Some  two  thousand 
feet  below  us,  distant  not  more  than  seven  miles,  gleamed 
the  still  waters  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  We  stood  on  the 
upper  edge  of  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Wady  Samak, 
which  leads  down  to  it.  To  our  left,  scarce  a  mile  off,  we 
could  see  the  old  crusading  ruin  of  the  Kasr  Berdawil,  or 
Baldwin’s  Castle,  perched  on  a  promontory  the  sides  of 
which  are  sheer  precipices,  thus  offering  to  the  old  warriors 
a  position  of  magnificent  strength.  It  is  one  of  the  least 
known  of  the  Crusading  strongholds,  but  I  was  assured  by  a 
friend,  who,  so  far  as  I  know,  is  the  only  traveller  who  has 
visited  it,  that  beyond  a  few  crumbling  walls  there  was  ab¬ 
solutely  nothing  to  be  seen,  so,  as  I  had  better  game  in  pros¬ 
pect,  I  did  not  turn  aside  to  it,  as  I  had  originally  intended, 
but  resolutely  prepared  to  risk  my  neck  amid  the  basalt 
blocks  of  the  cliff  down  which  the  sheik  was  now  disappear¬ 
ing.  Fortunately,  though  it  was  a  bad  descent,  it  was  not 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  UMM  EL-KANATAR. 


2G3 


a  long  one.  I  never  could  understand  how  my  horse  man¬ 
aged  it,  for  I  had  left  him  to  take  care  of  himself,  finding 
my  own  legs  a  safer  method  of  descent;  but  in  these  lonely 
regions  the  instinct  of  not  getting  separated  from  the  rest 
of  the  party  is  as  strong  with  animals  as  with  men,  and  they 
may  generally  be  trusted  to  follow  their  companions. 

After  scrambling  down  about  five  hundred  feet  we  came 
to  a  sort  of  bench  or  narrow  plateau,  on  the  flank  of  the  ra¬ 
vine,  and  on  turning  round  a  huge  rock  of  black  basalt  came 
suddenly  upon  one  of  the  most  delightful  scenic  surprises 
which  it  was  possible  to  imagine.  Here  in  this  wild,  inacces¬ 
sible  spot,  in  ages  long  gone  by,  the  ancients  had  evidently 
contrived  a  secure  and  enchanting  retreat,  for  it  was  pro¬ 
vided  with  the  first  requisite  of  beauty  and  of  pleasure — a 
copious  fountain  of  water.  It  lay  in  crystal  purity  in  a  still, 
oblong  pool,  beneath  the  perpendicular  black  rock.  Against 
the  rock,  and  projecting  from  it,  were  two  large  arches  which 
had  been  constructed  of  solid  masonry,  with  blocks  of  stone 
of  immense  size.  One  of  these  arches  was  almost  destroyed, 
but  the  other  was  still  in  perfect  preservation.  It  measured 
twenty-three  feet  in  breadth,  sixteen  feet  in  height,  and  six 
feet  six  inches  in  depth,  this  being  therefore  the  width  of 
the  fountain,  which  was  also  twenty-three  feet  long  and 
about  two  feet  deep.  To  my  astonishment  it  contained 
numbers  of  small  fish,  which  was  the  more  surprising  as  it 
possessed  no  apparent  outlet;  but  it  -was  too  cold  and  fresh 
and  sparkling  to  be  anything  but  a  living  stream,  and  prob¬ 
ably  disappeared  by  a  subterranean  passage  through  a  large 
crevice  which  I  observed  in  the  rock. 

The  wide-spreading  branches  of  a  venerable  oak  which 
grew  directly  in  front  of  the  arch  threw  a  delightful  shade 
over  it,  while  delicate  ferns  clothed  the  sides  of  the  grotto, 
which  seemed  to  woo  us  to  a  repose  and  indolence  which  ‘ 
was,  alas,  under  the  circumstances,  denied  to  us.  On  the 
keystone  of  the  arch  there  was  a  partially  effaced  inscrip¬ 
tion.  Though  it  was  sixteen  feet  overhead,  and  therefore 
inaccessible,  I  should  not  have  abandoned  some  attempt  to 
decipher  it  had  I  not  felt  sure  that,  even  if  I  were  close  to  it, 
it  was  too  much  defaced  by  the  storms  of  ages  to  be  legible. 

I  feel  little  doubt,  however,  about  its  having  been  in  the 


264 


HAIFA. 


Greek  character;  while  on  a  slab  of  stone  at  the  side  of  the 
spring  I  found  carved  the  figure  of  a  lion,  which  was  in 
good  preservation,  and  of  which  I  made  a  sketch. 

The  sheik  was  so  impatient  to  take  me  somewhere  else 
that  he  scarcely  allowed  me  time  to  avail  myself  of  this 
tempting  spot  to  take  the  refreshment  of  which  I  stood 
much  in  need.  He  told  me  the  name  of  the  place  was  Emm 
el-Kanatar,  or,  being  interpreted,  “the  place  of  arches,”  a 
name  evidently  derived  from  its  most  striking  feature,  and 
he  said  there  was  a  ruin  close  by.  This  turned  out  to  be  not 
a  hundred  yards  distant,  and  consisted  of  walls  still  standing 
to  a  height  of  about  seven  feet,  composed  of  three  courses 
of  stone,  the  blocks  averaging  about  two  feet  one  way  by 
two  feet  six  the  other,  but  being  in  some  instances  much 
larger.  These  walls  enclosed  an  area  of  about  fifty  feet  by 
thirty-five,  which  was  covered  by  a  mass  of  ruins  which  had 
been  tossed  about  in  the  wildest  confusion.  It  was  quite 
evident  that  it  had  been  the  work  of  an  earthquake.  Six 
columns,  varying  from  ten  to  twelve  feet  in  height,  rose 
from  the  tumbled  masses  of  building-stone  at  every  angle. 
It  was  impossible  without  moving  the  huge  blocks  which  en¬ 
cumbered  their  bases  and  hid  their  pedestals,  and  balanced 
them  in  all  sorts  of  positions,  to  tell  whether  they  were  in 
situ  or  not.  The  huge  moulded  stones  which  formed  the 
sides  of  the  entrance,  though  still  one  above  the  other,  had 
been  shaken  out  of  position,  but  they  bore  all  the  character 
of  carving  which  is  peculiar  to  Jewish  architecture,  and  at 
once  led  me  to  conclude  that  here,  as  at  Eddikke,  I  had  dis¬ 
covered  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  Jewish  synagogue,  dating 
probably  from  the  first  or  second  century  a.  d.  This  im¬ 
pression  was  confirmed  as  I  came  to  examine  the  ruin  more 
narrowly.  Here  was  the  large  stone  cut  in  the  shape  of  an 
arch,  which  had  probably  stood  upon  the  lintel  of  the  princi¬ 
pal  entrance;  and  here  was  a  fragment  of  a  handsome  cor¬ 
nice  of  the  same  peculiar  pattern  I  had  found  at  Eddikke, 
resembling  the  egg-and-dart  pattern  of  modern  ornamenta¬ 
tion.  Here  were  the  columns  inside  the  walls  of  the  build¬ 
ing  instead  of  outside,  which  would  have  been  the  case  had 
it  been  a  Greek  temple,  and  here  were  the  massive  stones, 
not  set  in  mortar,  which  would  have  been  the  case  if  it  had 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  VMM  EL-KANATAR. 


265 


been  an  early  Christian  basilica  or  church.  Here,  too,  was 
a  stone  on  which  was  carved  the  representation  of  an  eagle, 
in  deference  to  the  prejudices  of  the  Roman  conquerors 
under  whose  auspices  these  synagogues  appertaining  to  the 
Jewish  Patriarchate  of  Tiberias  were  built,  the  work  having 
evidently  been  executed  by  Roman  workmen. 

I  could  find  no  inscription,  but  it  wrould  take  days  to 
examine  all  the  stones  thoroughly,  and  it  is  most  probable 
that  a  careful  investigation  of  them  would  reveal  something 
which  would  throw  a  still  more  definite  light  on  the  char¬ 
acter  and  period  of  the  building,  though  I  confess  I  enter¬ 
tain  very  little  doubt  in  respect  to  either.  Altogether  I  re¬ 
gard  these  ruins  of  Umm  el-Kanatar  as  the  most  interesting 
discovery  I  have  yet  made,  and  as  being  well  worthy  an¬ 
other  visit  and  a  more  minute  examination  than  I  was  able 
to  bestow  upon  them. 

The  sheik  now  appeared  to  think  he  had  done  his  duty, 
and  expressed  his  intention  of  returning  to  his  village  and 
of  leaving  me  to  find  my  way  down  the  Wady  Samak  by 
myself.  This  I  did  not  object  to,  as  there  was  still  plenty 
of  daylight,  and  I  could,  in  fact,  make  out  from  where  I  was 
now  standing  the  position  of  the  ruins  of  Kersa  on  the  mar¬ 
gin  of  the  lake,  whither  I  had  despatched  my  servants  and 
baggage  animals  direct  from  my  last  night’s  quarters,  with 
orders  to  await  my  arrival  there. 

It  was  up  the  branch  of  the  wady  that  I  was  descending 
that  the  projected  railway  from  Haifa  to  Damascus  would 
have  to  be  led,  and  it  was  some  satisfaction  to  see  that  it 
offered  facilities  for  the  ascent  of  the  line.  The  scenery  was 
in  the  highest  degree  picturesque,  the  sides  of  the  valley 
sometimes  sloping  back  for  some  distance  to  the  foot  of  the 
basalt  precipices  which  formed  its  upper  wall;  at  others 
these  approached  and  formed  projecting  and  overhanging 
promontories,  like  that  on  which  the  Kasr  Berdavvil  was 
situated.  We  scrambled  down  by  a  rugged  path  to  the 
small  stream  at  the  bottom  with  the  view  of  following  it,  if 
possible,  to  its  outlet  on  the  lake,  but  this  we  soon  found  to 
be  impracticable,  and  were  assured  by  a  Bedouin,  whose  hut 
we  finally  reached  on  its  margin,  that  we  must  cross  it,  and 
make  an  ascent  on  the  opposite  side.  This  led  us  by  a 


266 


HAIFA. 


roundabout,  billy,  but  picturesque  route  across  numerous 
and  intersecting  wadys,  and  past  one  ruin,  of  which  noth¬ 
ing  remained  but  the  black  blocks  of  hewn  basalt.  I  was 
fortunate  enough,  however,  to  meet  a  man  who  told  me  the 
name,  which  I  added  to  my  list  of  unknown  ruins,  and  so, 
after  much  scrambling,  we  reached  at  last  the  white  lime¬ 
stone  strata,  and  the  purling  brook  again  with  its  fringe  of 
oleanders,  and  could  see  in  the  distance  the  one  large  soli¬ 
tary  tree  which  we  had  given  as  our  rendezvous,  and  beneath 
which  our  servants  were  standing,  that  marks  the  site  of  the 
ruins  of  Kersa,  or  the  Gergesa  of  the  Bible,  where  Christ 
healed  the  two  men  possessed  with  devils,  and  suffered  those 
malignant  spirits  to  enter  into  the  herd  of  swine. 

There  is  a  discrepancy  in  the  accounts  of  the  Evangelists 
in  their  narrative  of  the  incident.  Mark  and  Luke,  in  our 
version,  locate  it  in  the  country  of  the  Gadarenes,  but 
Matthew  states  it  to  have  taken  place  in  the  country  of  the 
Gergesenes.  The  Vulgate,  Arabic,  and  others  that  follow 
the  Vulgate  read  Gergesa  in  all  the  Evangelists,  and  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  this  is  the  correct  reading,  for  the  sim¬ 
ple  reason  that  the  miracles  could  not  have  taken  place  in 
the  country  of  the  Gadarenes,  a  district  which  lies  south  of 
the  Yarmuk,  and  at  a  long  distance  from  the  lake,  the  prin¬ 
cipal  town,  Gadara,  the  modern  XTm  Keis,  about  the  identi¬ 
fication  of  which  there  can  be  no  doubt,  being  at  least  eight 
miles  from  it.  Vow  the  account  says  that  “  when  he  came 
out  of  the  ship  immediately  there  met  him  a  man,”  also  that 
the  herd  ran  down  a  steep  place  violently  into  the  sea.  To 
do  this,  if  the  incident  had  taken  place  at  Gadara,  they  must 
have  descended  twelve  hundred  feet  to  the  Yarmuk,  swam 
across  that  river,  clambered  up  the  opposite  bank,  and  then 
raced  for  about  six  miles  across  the  plain  before  they  could 
reach  the  nearest  margin  of  the  lake.  Scarcely  any  amount 
of  insanity  on  the  part  of  the  devils  would  account  for  such 
a  mad  career,  but  in  point  of  fact  it  does  not  tally  with  the 
Scripture  record,  according  to  which  they  rushed  down  a 
steep  place  into  the  sea.  This  is  exactly  what  they  could  do 
at  Kersa.  The  margin  of  the  lake  is  here  within  a  few  rods 
of  the  base  of  the  cliff,  where  there  are  ancient  tombs,  out 
of  which  may  have  issued  the  men  who  met  Christ  on  the 


THE  DISCOVERY  OF  TJMM  EL-KANATAR. 


267 


plateau  above;  and  it  is  easy  to  suppose  that  the  swine,  rush¬ 
ing  down  the  sloping  cliff,  would  have  enough  impetus 
to  carry  them  across  the  narrow  slip  of  shore  at  its  base. 
The  remains  now  only  consist  of  long  lines  of  wall,  which 
may  easily  be  traced,  and  of  a  considerable  area  strewn  with 
building-stones,  which  show  that  it  must  in  old  time  have 
contained  a  considerable  population.  This  is  the  more  likely 
to  be  the  case  as  it  was  the  chief  town  of  a  district  which 
was  called  after  it.  In  fact,  this  picturesque  and  interesting 
Wady  Samak,  with  its  evidences  of  a  former  civilization, 
and  its  “  place  of  arches”  and  handsome  synagogue,  was,  in 
fact,  “the  country  of  the  Gergesenes;”  and  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  to  Christ  and  his  disciples  the  remote  cor¬ 
ners  of  it,  which  I  had  been  one  of  the  first  to  explore,  were 
intimately  known.* 

The  ruins  of  Kersa  are  a  good  deal  overgrown,  and  in  the 
cover  which  is  thus  afforded  I  put  up  a  wild  boar.  He 
dashed  away  so  suddenly,  however,  that  a  bullet  from  a  re¬ 
volver,  which  was  sent  after  him,  failed  to  produce  any  re¬ 
sult.  I  have  little  doubt  that  the  old  Roman  road  turned 
from  the  lake  at  this  point  up  the  Wady  Samak,  as  there  are 
traces  here  and  there  indicating  such  a  probability.  It  will 
be  a  singular  commentary  on  the  progress  of  events  if  it 
turns  out  that  it  has  taken  the  best  gradient,  and  if,  upon 
its  ancient  track,  the  scream  of  the  locomotive  may  in  the 
near  future  be  heard  waking  up  the  long-silent  echoes  of  the 
country  of  the  Gergesenes. 


*  The  greater  part  of  the  Wady  Samak  and  the  surrounding  country  had, 
immediately  prior  to  my  visit,  been  most  accurately  surveyed  by  Mr.  Gottlieb 
Schumacher,  the  son  of  the  American  vice-consul  at  Haifa,  whose  admirable 
and  exhaustive  surveys  are  embodied  in  the  proceedings  of  the  English  and 
German  Palestine  Exploration  Societies,  and  who  was  my  companion  on  the 
occasion  of  our  discovery  of  the  ruins  of  Umm  el-Kanatar. 


THE  ROCK  TOMBS  OF  PALESTINE. 


Haifa,  April  26.— The  fact  that  I  am  laboring  under  a 
peculiar  phase  of  insanity,  which  takes  the  form  of  descend¬ 
ing  with  a  light  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth  with  a  measur¬ 
ing  tape,  and  writing  down  cabalistic  signs  of  what  I  find 
there,  whether  it  be  in  a  cistern  or  a  tomb,  or  a  natural  cav¬ 
ern,  has  become  pretty  widely  known  among  the  inhabitants 
of  the  neighbouring  villages,  and  the  consequence  is  that 
from  time  to  time  I  receive  information  which  may  minister 
to  this  harmless  monomania.  The  other  day,  for  instance,  a 
stonecutter  whom  I  had  employed  on  some  building  opera¬ 
tions  came  to  me  with  the  intelligence  that  while  he  and 
some  villagers  had  been  getting  out  stone  for  a  house  at  a 
place  about  twenty  miles  distant  they  had  unexpectedly 
come  upon  a  series  of  subterranean  chambers.  His  ac¬ 
count  was  so  tempting  that,  though  prepared  by  experience 
for  disappointment  when  acting  upon  purely  native  infor¬ 
mation,!  nevertheless  thought  the  possible  results  worth  an 
effort,  and  proceeded  therefore  to  the  village  in  question, 
which  was  situated  in  the  centre  of  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon. 
The  sheik  was  at  first  somewhat  reluctant  to  show  me  the 
spot,  as  the  fellahin  have  an  inherent  suspicion  of  all  in¬ 
vestigations  of  this  nature,  believing  them  to  be  mysterious¬ 
ly  connected  with  the  discovery  of  treasure,  which,  when 
found,  they  will  be  accused  of  having  concealed,  and  pun¬ 
ished  for  it.  He  finally  consented,  however,  to  lead  the 
way,  and  brought  me  to  an  opening  in  the  earth,  from  the 
surface  of  which  a  flight  of  nine  stone  steps  led  down  to  a 
small  paved  court,  about  six  feet  square,  which  had  now 
been  emptied  of  the  soil  which  had  previously  concealed  its 
existence.  The  sides  of  this  court,  which  were  about  twelve 
feet  high,  were  formed  of  massive  masonry,  the  blocks  of 
stone  being  each  from  eighteen  inches  to  two  feet  square, 


THE  ROCK  TOMBS  OF  PALESTINE. 


269 


set  in  mortar.  A  short  vaulted  passage,  three  feet  long, 
two  feet  six  wide,  and  five  feet  high,  led  from  it  into  a  sub¬ 
terranean  chamber  of  fine  workmanship,  and  in  such  a  high 
state  of  preservation  that  it  was  difficult  to  realize  that  from 
fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  years  had  elapsed  since  its 
stone  floor  had  been  trodden  by  the  foot  of  man.  It  was 
fourteen  feet  long,  eight  broad,  and  eight  feet  six  in  height, 
with  a  vaulted  roof,  the  walls  consisting  of  plain  chiselled 
stones  set  in  mortar,  in  courses  of  from  two  feet  to  two  feet 
six  inches  in  height.  On  the  left  of  this  chamber  was  a  sin¬ 
gle  koka,  or  tunnel,  hewn  in  the  rock  for  the  reception  of  a 
dead  body.  The  roof  was  vaulted  and  of  solid  masonry. 
On  the  side  opposite  the  entrance  was  another  vaulted  pas¬ 
sage,  which  was  seven  feet  six  in  length,  and  led  into  a 
chamber  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock,  twelve  feet  by  ten  feet 
six,  and  six  feet  six  in  height.  This  contained  three  kokim 
and  a  loculus  under  an  arcosolium;  but  the  side  of  the  locu¬ 
lus,  as  well  as  those  of  the  kokim,  had  been  much  injured. 
The  villagers,  who  had  opened  these  tombs  for  the  first 
time  only  a  few  weeks  before,  told  us  they  had  only  found 
human  bones  in  them,  but  I  strongly  suspect  they  had 
found  ornaments  which  they  were  afraid  to  exhibit,  though 
I  offered  them  money.  One  or  two  glass  bottles  and  earth¬ 
enware  jars  they  also  said  they  had  found  and  broken. 

Not  far  from  these  tombs  was  another  smaller  excavation, 
the  entrance  to  which  presented  the  appearance  of  an  ordi¬ 
nary  cave,  but  on  entering  it  we  found  ourselves  in  a  small, 
circular,  rock-hewn  chamber,  the  floor  so  covered  with  rub¬ 
ble  that  it  was  not  possible  to  stand  upright.  In  the  centre 
of  the  roof  was  an  aperture  eighteen  inches  square,  opening 
to  the  sky,  carefully  hewn,  and  from  it  led  a  passage  of 
masonry,  the  stones  also  set  in  mortar,  two  feet  six  broad, 
and  about  five  feet  to  the  point  where  it  was  completely 
choked  with  earth.  Had  I  had  time  to  excavate  I  should  no 
doubt  have  found  that  it  led  into  a  tomb.  The  entrance  to 
this  passage  was  almost  completely  blocked  by  the  capital 
of  a  handsome  Ionic  column ;  the  column  itself  was  eighteen 
inches  in  diameter.  How  it  ever  came  to  be  wedged  down 
in  this  underground  passage  I  cannot  conceive.  Among  the 
stones  in  the  vicinity  which  had  been  unearthed  by  the  na- 


270 


HAIFA. 


tives  I  found  one  on  which  was  carved  a  seven-branched 
candlestick,  another  of  Jewish  moulding,  a  sarcophagus, 
several  fragments  of  columns,  and  a  monolith  standing  ten 
feet  from  the  debris  at  its  base,  with  grooves  and  slots  sim¬ 
ilar  to  others  which  I  have  seen  on  Carmel,  but  taller.  I 
can  only  imagine  it  to  have  formed  part  of  some  olive-press¬ 
ing  machinery.  In  the  neighbouring  rocks  were  hewn  vats 
and  wine-presses. 

The  discovery  of  this  tomb,  with  the  peculiar  character¬ 
istics  which  marked  its  construction,  and  the  objects  which 
surrounded  it,  afforded  a  fertile  subject  of  conjecture.  In 
order  that  my  readers  may  understand  the  considerations  to 
which  it  gave  rise,  I  must  enter  a  little  more  fully  than  I 
have  hitherto  done  into  the  subject  of  the  ancient  Jewish 
methods  of  sepulture.  These  consist  of  sundry  varieties, 
and  it  has  been  attempted  to  fix  their  dates  from  the  varia¬ 
tions  which  have  been  observed,  as  well  as  to  discriminate 
by  them  between  Christian  and  Jewish  tombs.  So  far  as 
my  own  investigation  goes,  I  have  been  unable  to  fix  any 
positive  rule  in  the  matter,  my  experience  being  that  one 
no  sooner  forms  a  theory  based  upon  observation,  than  one 
makes  some  new  discovery  which  upsets  it.  Roughly,  the 
tombs  which  I  have  investigated  may  be  divided  into  the 
following  categories  :  1.  Rock-hewn  tombs  containing  noth¬ 
ing  but  loculi;  2.  Rock-hewn  tombs  containing  nothing  but 
kokim;  3.  Rock-hewn  tombs  containing  both;  4.  Masonry 
tombs  containing  either  loculi  or  kokim,  or  both  together; 
5.  Sarcophagi;  6.  Rock-sunk  tombs.  A  rock-hewn  tomb  is 
an  excavation  made  in  the  solid  rock  (advantage  generally 
has  been  taken  of  a  natural  cavern),  and  round  the  sides 
of  the  chambers  so  formed,  which  vary  in  dimensions,  are 
ranged  the  receptacles  for  the  dead.  In  some  cases  these 
are  more  than  one  chamber.  In  Sheik  Abreikh,  for  in¬ 
stance,  I  counted  fifteen  opening  one  into  another.  Some¬ 
times  these  are  one  above  another,  and  one  has  to  enter 
them  from  below  through  a  hole  in  the  stone  roof  which 
forms  the  floor  of  the  upper  chamber.  A  koka  is  a  rec¬ 
tangular  sloping  space  cut  into  the  rock,  tunnel  fashion,  ex¬ 
tending  six  feet  horizontally,  sufficiently  wide  and  high  to 
admit  of  a  corpse  being  pushed  into  it.  A  loculus  is  a 


THE  ROCK  TOMBS  OF  PALESTINE. 


271 


trough  cut  laterally  into  the  rock,  which  is  arched  above  so 
as  to  form  what  is  called  an  arcosolium.  This  trough  is 
generally  about  six  feet  long,  two  feet  six  broad,  and  two 
feet  deep.  It  is  thus  separated  from  the  chamber  by  a  wall 
of  rock  two  feet  high.  A  large  tomb  will  contain  as  many 
as  twelve  loculi  ranged  around  it. 

At  first  it  was  supposed  that  the  kokim  tombs  were  the 
oldest;  then  it  was  found  that  loculi  and  kokim  were  some¬ 
times  found  in  the  same  tomb;  and,  indeed,  there  seems  now 
to  be  no  reason  to  suppose  that  one  kind  is  older  than  the 
other.  That  the  Christians  used  both  is  certain  from  the 
fact  that  Greek  inscriptions  with  Christian  ornaments  are  to 
be  found  over  the  doors  of  tombs  containing  kokim  as  well 
as  loculi.  Masonry  tombs  are  only  found  in  Galilee,  where 
they  are  very  rare.  Indeed,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  this  is 
only  the  sixth  that  has  been  discovered;  but  what  gave  it  a 
special  interest  in  my  eyes  is  the  fact  that  the  stones  were 
set  in  mortar,  which  is  not  the  case  with  any  of  the  others, 
ancient  Jewish  synagogues,  as  well  as  their  masonry  tombs, 
being  built  without  cement.  I  therefore  had  made  up  my 
mind  that  this  was  a  Christian  tomb,  the  early  Christians 
having  evidently  continued  the  Jewish  method  of  sepulture, 
more  especially  as  it  is  oriented,  which  is  not  the  case  with 
Jewish  tombs;  and,  indeed,  the  character  of  the  masonry 
and  the  fragments  of  columns  and  capitals  lying  about  in¬ 
duced  me  to  place  it  in  the  Byzantine  period,  possibly  as  late 
even  as  the  fourth  or  fifth  century  a.d.  But  then  I  stum¬ 
bled  upon  the  stone  with  the  seven-branched  candlestick,  an 
unmistakably  Jewish  emblem,  which  threw  the  date  back. 
It  is  true  that  this  stone  was  not  built  into  the  tomb,  and 
might  have  formed  part  of  a  building  of  a  date  long  ante¬ 
rior  to  it.  Indeed,  we  know  that  on  this  spot,  which  is  now 
called  Jebata,  and  which  is  undoubtedly  the  Biblical  Gaba- 
tha,  was  formerly  a  Jewish  town  of  some  importance,  and 
its  remains  have  doubtless  got  mixed  up  with  those  of  a 
later  Byzantine  period,  to  which  I  still  think  it  probable 
that  the  tomb  which  I  discovered  belongs. 

It  differs  from  any  I  have  yet  seen  in  the  imposing  char¬ 
acter  of  its  entrance.  Its  flight  of  nine  handsome  stone 
steps,  leading  down  the  open  court,  and  the  vaulted  passage, 


272 


HAIFA. 


with  its  massive  masonry,  give  it  quite  a  peculiar  character. 
The  entrance  to  the  rock-hewn  tomb  is  usually  through  a 
small  doorway  from  three  to  four  feet  in  height,  just  large 
enough  to  permit  a  man  to  squeeze  through  without  very 
great  inconvenience,  and  it  is  usually  closed  by  a  circular 
stone  like  a  millstone,  which  runs  in  a  groove,  and  can  be 
rolled  across  it,  though  sometimes  the  door  consists  of  a  huge 
curved  slab.  The  sarcophagus  is  too  well  known  to  need 
description.  The  most  remarkable  collection  of  them  which 
I  have  seen  is  at  Umm  Keis,  the  biblical  Gadara,  where  there 
are  at  least  two  hundred,  many  of  them  ranged  in  two  rows 
on  either  side  of  the  way  leading  out  of  the  city.  They  are 
of  black  basalt,  and  are  often  beautifully  carved  and  high¬ 
ly  ornamented.  I  do  not  think  they  were  so  much  used  by 
the  Jews  as  by  Christians,  though  sometimes  sarcophagi  are 
found  placed  in  loculi.  At  all  events,  they  were  not  the  orig¬ 
inal  Jewish  method  of  burial,  and,  if  used  by  them  at  all, 
the  habit  was  one  which  they  probably  adopted  from  their 
Roman  conquerors. 

The  sunk  tombs  are  common  in  various  parts  of  Galilee 
— especially  in  the  rocky  hillsides  of  the  range  upon  which 
Nazareth  is  situated.  They  consist  of  rectangular  troughs, 
sufficiently  large  to  contain  a  human  body,  sunk  into  the 
surface  of  the  living  rock,  and  covered  with  a  huge  lid  of 
stone,  sometimes  flat,  but  more  often  cut  conically,  so  as  to 
have  a  high  central  ridge.  I  have  more  than  once  endeav¬ 
oured  to  remove  these  from  the  tombs,  which  had  never  been 
opened,  where  they  were  still  in  situ ,  but  never  happened 
to  be  accompanied  by  a  sufficient  number  of  men  or  to  have 
adequate  leverage  appliances  with  me.  As  these  stones  are 
generally  about  seven  feet  long,  three  broad,  and  from  two 
to  three  feet  thick,  they  require  the  application  of  no  little 
force  to  remove  them.  They  vary  in  size,  however,  and  I 
have  seen  sunk  tombs  for  babies  not  above  eighteen  inches 
long.  Apart  from  the  interest  which  attaches  to  the  whole 
question  of  rock  sepulture  in  Palestine,  the  most  interesting 
relics  of  antiquity  are  generally  found  in  the  tombs,  while 
not  uncommonly  valuable  inscriptions  are  met  with.  Many 
of  them  are  ornamented  with  pictorial  representations, 
which  have  been  laid  on  with  coloured  pigment,  and  the 


THE  ROCK  TOMBS  OF  PALESTINE. 


273 


designs  are  often  curious  and  interesting.  Altogether,  al¬ 
though  the  investigation  of  these  mortuary  chambers  is 
often  attended  with  great  difficulty  and  discomfort,  they 
frequently  furnish  results  which  compensate  for  the  fatigue 
that  they  involve. 

18 


GENERAL  GORDON’S  LAST  VISIT  TO  HAIFA. 


Haifa,  May  10.  —  The  interest  which  attaches  to  the 
memory  of  the  late  General  Gordon  must  be  my  apology 
for  devoting  a  letter  to  my  personal  reminiscences  of  one 
whose  singularly  pure  and  lofty  character  attracted  me  to 
him  at  a  time  when  he  was  comparatively  unknown.  Noth¬ 
ing  is  in  fact  more  remarkable  than  the  suddenness  of  the 
notoriety  into  which  he  sprang,  a  notoriety  from  which  he 
of  all  men  would  have  the  most  shrunk,  and  of  the  knowl¬ 
edge  of  which,  by  the  singular  fatality  which  isolated  him 
from  the  world  in  his  beleaguered  garrison,  he  was  to  the 
last  unconscious.  Owing  to  his  own  modesty  and  love  of 
retirement,  and  to  the  fact  that  his  life  had  been  largely 
spent  abroad  and  in  the  service  of  foreign  governments,  he 
was  personally  almost  unknown  in  London  society.  His 
friends  consisted  chiefly  of  his  brother  officers  and  a  few 
congenial  spirits  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made  in  various 
parts  of  the  world.  By  the  public  at  large  he  had  only 
been  heard  of  as  “  Chinese  ”  Gordon,  and  few  cared  to  inquire 
what  manner  of  man  he  was. 

It  was  just  twenty-nine  years  ago  since  I  first  met  him  in 
the  trenches  before  Sebastopol.  He  was  quite  a  young  and 
unknown  officer  at  that  time,  and  I  should  have  forgotten 
the  circumstance  had  we  not  again  come  across  each  other 
three  years  afterwards  in  China,  and  upon  comparing  notes 
found  that  we  had  already  met  in  the  Crimea.  He  had  not 
then  been  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  “  ever  victorious 
army,”  and  was  still  a  junior  Captain  of  Engineers.  I  left 
China  before  he  entered  the  Chinese  service,  and  almost  im¬ 
mediately  after  his  arrival,  so  that  I  saw  very  little  of  him. 
Still,  I  had  seen  enough  to  make  me  watch  his  subsequent 
career  with  great  interest,  but  our  paths  had  not  again 
crossed  until  one  day,  about  two  years  ago,  I  received  a  let- 


GENERAL  GORDON'S  LAST  VISIT  TO  HAIFA.  275 


ter  from  Jaffa  signed  C.  G.  Gordon,  asking  for  information 
in  regard  to  Haifa  as  a  residence,  and  expressing  bis  inten¬ 
tion  of  possibly  paying  me  a  visit.  As  I  have  many  friends 
of  the  name,  I  was  puzzled  for  the  moment.  The  writer  did 
not  mention  anything  in  the  letter  to  give  a  clew  to  his 
identity,  though  it  was  addressed  as  from  one  old  friend  to 
another.  It  was  only  accidentally  that  the  same  afternoon 
the  vice-consul  here  asked  me  if  I  knew  anything  of  a  Gen¬ 
eral  Gordon,  as  some  letters  had  arrived  to  his  care  for  an 
individual  of  that  name.  I  at  once  perceived  who  my  cor¬ 
respondent  must  be.  I  immediately  addressed  him  a  cordial 
invitation  to  pay  me  a  visit,  which  he  promptly  responded 
to,  and  we  spent  a  few  very  pleasant  days  together.  The 
Hicks  disaster  in  the  Soudan  had  not  then  occurred,  so 
that  the  affairs  of  that  country  and  its  Mahdi  had  not  yet 
acquired  the  notoriety  they  were  destined  so  soon  to  at¬ 
tain  ;  but  Gordon’s  intimate  knowledge  of  the  country  in¬ 
duced  him  to  express  his  opinion  in  regard  to  its  condi¬ 
tion. 

He  deprecated  strongly  the  whole  course  adopted  by  the 
British  government  in  Egypt  from  the  beginning,  warned 
me  that  they  underrated  the  nature  of  the  movement  in  the 
Soudan,  to  which  country  he  was  then  in  favour  of  granting 
independence  under  native  rulers,  was  entirely  opposed  to 
English  officers  at  the  head  of  Egyptian  troops,  thrusting 
themselves  into  the  mess,  and  maintained  that  the  whole  af¬ 
fair  should  be  settled  by  a  civil  commissioner,  who  should 
at  once  be  sent  by  England  to  the  Mahdi  to  arrange  with 
him  the  terms  upon  which  the  Soudan  should  be  rendered 
independent  of  Egypt.  As  at  this  time  the  English  had  not 
come  into  violent  hostile  collision  with  the  Mahdi,  Gordon 
declared  his  conviction  that  such  a  mission  would  be  favour¬ 
ably  received,  and  that  a  state  of  affairs  might  be  arranged 
which,  although  not  so  favourable  to  the  Soudanese  as  he 
could  have  wished,  would  leave  them  better  off  than  under 
Egyptian  rule.  His  idea  was  that  if  the  Mahdi  did  not  show 
himself  amenable  to  reason,  he  might  be  threatened  with  a 
rebellion  of  the  local  Soudanese  chiefs,  who,  he  felt  con¬ 
vinced,  could  easily  be  induced  to  combine  against  him.  In 
fact,  before  sroinir  to  the  Madhi  he  would  have  sounded  the 


276 


HAIFA. 


feeling  of  these  chiefs,  with  a  view,  if  necessary,  to  organiz¬ 
ing  a  revolt  against  him. 

In  a  word,  his  view  was  that  the  Soudan  question  should 
be  settled  by  the  Soudanese  alone,  that  no  Egyptians  should 
be  mixed  up  in  the  affair;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  if  the 
British  government  had  thought  of  availing  themselves  of 
Gordon’s  services  at  this  juncture,  the  question  of  the  Soudan 
might  have  been  arranged  satisfactorily  to  all  parties,  ex¬ 
cept,  perhaps,  the  Egyptian  and  Turkish  governments.  He 
was  at  that  time  particularly  strong  on  the  necessity  of  a 
railway  from  Suakim  to  Berber,  the  concession  for  which 
was  being  then  applied  for  by  English  railway  contractors, 
who  were  sanguine  of  success.  He  assured  me  that  they 
were  wasting  their  time;  that  it  was  a  concession  the  Egyp¬ 
tian  government  would  never  grant,  as  they  were  afraid  if 
they  did  that  the  whole  trade  of  the  Soudan  would  be  di¬ 
verted  to  Suakim  instead  of,  as  now,  coming  down  to  Cairo. 
“It  is  a  short-sighted  policy,”  he  remarked,  “for  without 
that  railway  Egypt  will  one  day  not  only  lose  the  trade  of 
the  Soudan,  but  the  Soudan  itself. 

Hot  long  afterwards  there  was  a  report  that  the  concession 
had  been  granted,  and  he  wrote  me  a  long  letter  of  many  pages, 
which  began  with  warning  me  not  to  believe  the  report,  as 
it  was  quite  impossible  that  it  could  be  true,  his  knowledge 
of  the  Egyptian  government  convincing  him  that  they  would 
make  promises,  but  that  nothing  would  ever  induce  them  to 
consent  to  this  railway  being  made,  unless  they  were  coerced 
into  it  by  the  British  government.  He  felt  equally  con¬ 
vinced  that  the  British  government  had  no  intention  of 
using  their  authority  in  this  direction,  as,  in  his  opinion, 
they  should  do,  and  that  the  report,  therefore,  was  without 
foundation.  This,  in  fact,  turned  out  to  be  the  case. 

General  Gordon,  after  spending  a  few  days  at  Haifa,  re¬ 
turned  to  Jerusalem,  promising  to  bring  his  tents  two  months 
later  and  pitch  them  next  to  mine  at  Esfia  on  the  summit  of 
Carmel.  I  was  eagerly  looking  forward  to  his  companion¬ 
ship  in  the  delightful  wilderness  of  this  mountain,  and  had 
even  marked  out  in  my  own  mind  a  spot  for  his  camping- 
ground  within  fifty  yards  of  my  own,  when,  to  my  great  dis¬ 
appointment,  I  received  a  letter  from  him  saying  that  he  was 


GENERAL  GORDONS  LAST  VISIT  TO  HAIFA.  277 


so  deeply  interested  in  biblical  studies  at  the  Holy  City  that 
he  felt  it  his  duty  to  change  his  mind,  as  he  might  never 
again  have  an  opportunity  of  verifying  the  correctness  of 
the  views  he  entertained  in  regard  to  the  typical  nature  of 
its  configuration. 

Not  long  afterwards  I  received  another  long  letter  from 
him  on  the  subject  of  the  Jordan  valley  canal  scheme,  in 
which  he  took  a  warm  interest.  This  led  to  a  correspondence, 
as  I  entirely  differed  from  him  as  to  its  practicability.  Tow¬ 
ards  the  end  of  the  year  he  wrote,  saying  that  he  was  sudden¬ 
ly  summoned  to  the  Congo,  and  bidding  me  adieu.  Curious¬ 
ly  enough,  in  my  reply  I  said  that  I  did  not  say  good-bye, 
as  I  felt  sure  I  should  see  him  again  before  he  left  the 
country.  A  few  days  afterwards  he  once  more  turned  up  at 
Haifa.  He  had  embarked  at  Jaffa  for  Port  Said  in  a  coun¬ 
try  sailing  craft,  and  he  had  been  driven  by  stress  of  weath¬ 
er  so  far  out  of  his  course  that  his  crew  finally  ran  in  here 
for  shelter. 

At  this  time  affairs  in  the  Soudan  wTere  in  a  very  acute 
stage,  and  we  again  discussed  them  at  great  length.  His 
views  had  naturally  undergone  a  change,  as  the  policy  which 
had  been  possible  seven  or  eight  months  previously  was  im¬ 
practicable  now.  He  felt  great  doubt  whether,  if  he  went 
to  the  Soudan,  he  could  succeed  in  achieving  now  what  he 
was  convinced  he  could  have  accomplished  then,  or  whether 
the  policy  he  had  sketched  out  was  longer  feasible.  “  If  it 
were  not  for  the  Soudanese,  whom  I  love,”  he  said,  “  the 
easy  way  out  of  it  for  the  English  government  would  be 
to  invite  the  Turks  to  go,  but  it  is  not  probable  that  they 
have  the  sense  to  make  the  proposition,  or  that  the  Turks 
would  be  such  fools  as  to  accept  it.” 

He  refused  altogether  to  anticipate  the  possibility  of  his 
being  sent  to  the  Soudan,  partly  because  he  felt  bound  in 
honour  to  go  to  the  Congo  for  the  King  of  the  Belgians,  and 
partly  because  he  had  already  had  too  many  differences  with 
the  heads  of  departments  under  which  he  had  served,  and 
was  regarded  with  too  little  favour,  on  account  of  his  refusal 
to  look  at  every  question  through  official  spectacles,  to  be  a 
persona  grata  to  the  English  government.  He  was  detained 
here  a  week,  during  which  time  we  not  only  discussed  fully 


278 


HAIFA. 


the  Egyptian  and  Soudanese  questions,  but  talked  over  old 
times  in  China,  when  he  gave  me  many  graphic  descriptions 
of  incidents  in  his  Chinese  campaigns,  which  have  prob¬ 
ably  never  been  heard  of,  and  which  I  now  regret  I  did  not 
record.  His  modesty  was  such  that  I  could  only  compel  him 
to  narrate  his  own  adventures  by  a  process  of  severe  cross- 
examination. 

One  of  his  marked  peculiarities  in  conversation  was  his 
employment  of  phrases  which  he  had  himself  coined  to  repre¬ 
sent  certain  ideas.  Thus  he  would  say  of  a  man:  u So-and- 
so  is  a  very  good  fellow,  but  he  would  never  break  his 
medal,”  by  which  he  meant  that  he  was  ambitious.  Gordon 
himself,  when  the  Emperor  of  China  gave  him,  in  return  for 
his  services,  a  very  valuable  gold  medal,  fearing  that  the  sense 
of  gratification  he  derived  from  it  might  prove  a  snare  to 
him,  broke  it  up  and  gave  away  the  jjieces.  Hence  the 
allusion. 

Again,  he  would  say,  if  asked  if  he  knew  so-and-so.  “  I 
only  met  him  once  and  then  he  rent  me.”  From  which  I 
understood  that  he  had  felt  it  his  duty  on  that  occasion  to 
give  the  individual  in  question  a  word  of  good  advice,  and 
that  the  only  thanks  was  that  the  man  resented  it,  or,  in 
Scripture  phraseology,  “  turned  again  and  rent  him.” 

One  day  I  observed  him  writing  notes  on  a  slip  of  paper, 
lie  asked  me  the  Christian  names  of  two  friends  who  were 
staying  with  me.  I  told  him,  and  feeling,  I  suppose,  that  my 
curiosity  ought  to  be  gratified,  he  said,  “  I  am  writing  them 
down  on  ray  prayer  list.” 

Another  day,  after  using  some  very  strong  language  in 
regard  to  a  very  high  personage  who  shall  be  nameless,  he 
added  quickly,  “but  I  pray  for  him  regularly.”  All  this 
without  a  vestige  of  cant.  If  there  was  a  thing  he  detested 
it  was  hypocrisy,  and  I  trust  I  may  not  be  suspected  of  it 
when  I  say  that  the  thought  of  Gordon  at  Khartoum,  and 
the  knowledge  that  I  was  on  his  prayer  list,  was  calculated 
to  produce  a  lump  in  my  throat.  He  was  full  of  fun 
and  a  most  cheery  companion  with  those  he  knew  intimate¬ 
ly.  He  never  forced  a  conversation  in  a  religious  channel. 
He  brought  with  him  from  Jerusalem  a  raised  model  which 
he  had  made,  to  carry  out  his  theory  that  the  hill  upon  which 


GENERAL  GORDON'S  LAST  VISIT  TO  HAIFA.  279 

the  greater  part  of  the  city  was  built  was  in  the  form  of  a 
woman.  Taking  the  mound  commonly  identified  as  “the 
place  of  the  skull”  as  the  head,  the  lines  of  topographical 
configuration  certainly  bore  out  the  resemblance  in  a  very 
remarkable  manner.  He  was  far  more  full  of  this  than 
either  of  the  Soudan  or  the  Congo,  and  was  taking  it  with 
him  to  Brussels  to  show  the  King  of  the  Belgians.  “  I  sup¬ 
pose,  as  you  are  the  king’s  guest,  you  will  go  and  stay  at  the 
palace,”  I  remarked.  “Ho,  certainly  not,”  he  replied;  “I 
shall  go  to  a  hotel.  I  don’t  want  the  king’s  servants  to  see 
my  old  comb.”  Tie  left  here  on  the  18th  or  19th  of  Decem¬ 
ber,  1883,  and  walked  to  Acre,  twelve  miles,  to  meet  the 
steamer  that  was  to  take  him  direct  to  Marseilles.  He  sent 
his  luggage  in  a  carriage. 

His  last  words  as  we  parted  were  that  he  felt  sure  we 
should  never  meet  again.  I  said  he  had  been  wrong  once 
when  he  told  me  that  he  should  not  see  me  ac^ain,  and  I 
hoped  he  was  wrong  now.  He  said  no,  he  felt  that  he  had 
no  more  work  to  do  for  God  on  this  earth,  and  that  he 
should  never  return  from  the  Congo.  Within  a  month  he 
was  in  upper  Egypt. 

It  was  characteristic  of  the  man  that  scarcely  any  one  in 
Haifa  knew  who  he  was.  Seeing  a  very  handsome  garden 
belonging  to  a  rich  Syrian,  near  Acre,  he  strolled  into  it, 
and  was  accosted  by  the  proprietor,  who  asked  him  who  he 
was.  He  replied,  “  Gordon  Pasha,”  on  which  my  Syrian 
friend,  who  told  me  the  story,  laughed  incredulousl3T,  and 
politely  showed  him  out.  Gordon  meekly  departed  without 
attempting  to  insist  on  his  identity.  The  proprietor  told  me 
that  he  felt  convinced  that  he  was  being  imposed  upon,  be¬ 
cause  Gordon,  when  spoken  to  in  English,  would  answer  in 
bad  Arabic,  and  because,  when  asked  his  name,  he  took 
his  card-case  half  out  of  his  pocket,  as  though  to  give  his 
card,  and  then,  on  second  thought,  put  it  back  again  and 
answered  verbally.  So  my  friend  lost  his  chance  of  enter¬ 
taining  an  angel  unawares,  which  he  has  never  ceased  to  re¬ 
gret,  the  more  especially  as  his  friends  take  a  pleasure  in 
teasing  him  about  it. 

My  last  letter  from  Gordon  is  dated  Khartoum,  the  6th 
of  March.  Now  that  he  is  gone,  and  his  name  lias  be- 


280 


HAIFA. 


come  a  household  word  in  almost  all  countries,  and  among 
the  professors  of  all  religions,  the  few  among  the  natives 
who  knew  him  here  treasure  up  every  trait  of  his  marked 
individuality,  and  are  fond  of  narrating  anecdotes,  which 
grow  by  repetition.  His  instinct  of  retirement  and  ex¬ 
tremely  unassuming  manner  concealed  him,  so  to  speak, 
from  general  observation;  but  his  simplicity,  purity,  and 
absolute  singleness  of  aim  made  him  a  sort  of  moral  mag¬ 
net,  irresistibly  attractive  to  those  who  came  directly  beneath 
the  sphere  of  his  influence.  The  potency  of  his  virtue  in 
life  has  been  proved  by  the  imperishable  moral  legacy  which 
in  death  he  has  bequeathed  to  humanity. 


THE  CONVENT  OF  CARMEL  versus  THE  TOWN  OF 

HAIFA. 


Haifa,  May  25. — It  was  from  Carmel  that  in  times  of  old 
a  small  cloud  was  seen  rising  not  bigger  than  a  man’s  hand, 
which  overcast  the  heavens,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  a 
political  incident  which  has  just  occurred  here  may  prove 
the  diplomatic  commencement  of  a  storm  of  another  kind 
pregnant  with  untold  issues.  If  we  look  back  through  his¬ 
tory  at  the  origin  of  some  of  its  greatest  events,  we  often 
almost  fail  to  discover  them,  on  account  of  their  insignifi¬ 
cance.  When  the  moral  atmosphere  is  charged  with  elec¬ 
tricity,  it  needs  but  a  spark  to  produce  the  shock;  and  so  it 
is  just  possible  that  the  upsetting  of  a  few  stones,  on  a  bar¬ 
ren  hillside,  may  open  up  a  question  which  may  assume  pro¬ 
portions  of  very  considerable  magnitude,  as  it  involves  the 
most  dangerous  of  all  elements  in  a  dispute,  that  of  religious 
fanaticism.  The  Monastery  of  Carmel,  as  your  readers  are 
doubtless  aware,  is  situated  on  the  spur  of  the  mountain 
which  projects  in  a  point  at  an  elevation  of  about  five  hun¬ 
dred  feet  above  the  sea.  From  this  point  the  mountain  grad¬ 
ually  rises  until  it  attains  a  height  of  about  nine  hundred 
feet,  immediately  behind  the  town  of  Haifa  and  the  German 
colony.  The  mountain  here  spreads  into  an  elevated  plateau 
of  some  extent,  affording  extensive  pasture-ground  and  good 
arable  and  vineyard  land.  For  some  years  past  the  claim 
of  the  convent  over  a  large  area  of  this  plateau  has  been  a 
matter  of  dispute,  but  it  only  reached  an  acute  stage  the 
other  day,  when  the  towns-people  were  called  upon  to  pay 
taxes  on  it.  They  naturally  objected  that  they  ought  not  to 
pay  taxes  on  land  the  use  of  which  they  did  not  enjoy,  and 
access  to  which  was  forbidden  to  them  by  a  wall  which  had 
been  built  by  the  convent  as  the  boundary  to  its  possessions. 
In  order  to  bring  the  matter  to  an  issue,  some  thirty  of  the 


282 


HAIFA. 


German  colonists  and  as  many  of  the  Moslem  inhabitants  of 
the  town  went  up  in  a  body  and  proceeded  vi  et  armis  to 
tear  down  the  wall.  While  thus  engaged  some  of  the  monks 
emerged,  armed  with  spiritual  weapons  alone.  One  of  them, 
elevating  his  cross,  pronounced  a  solemn  curse,  first  in  Ger¬ 
man  and  then  in  Arabic,  upon  the  profaners  of  their  sacred 
soil.  The  convent  being  under  the  protection  of  the  French 
government,  a  formal  complaint  was  lodged  against  the  ac¬ 
tion  of  the  Germans  in  the  matter,  and  a  deputation,  con¬ 
sisting  of  the  German  and  French  vice-consuls,  were  sent 
down  from  Beyrout  to  inquire  into  it.  Meantime  the  Turk¬ 
ish  government  interfered,  as  it  had  a  right  to  do,  seeing 
that  many  Ottoman  subjects  had  participated  in  the  act  com¬ 
plained  of,  and  decided  that  the  right  of  the  convent  to 
erect  the  wall  was  a  matter  for  the  local  tribunals  to  decide 
upon,  as  well  as  the  question  of  the  validity  of  their  title  to 
the  part  of  the  mountain  claimed  by  them.  In  the  mean¬ 
time  instructions  were  given  that,  pending  the  decision  of 
the  court,  the  wall  should  be  replaced  in  exactly  the  same 
position,  and  of  the  same  dimensions,  as  before  its  removal. 
Advantage  was  taken  of  this  order  to  rebuild  the  wall  much 
more  solidly,  and  to  increase  its  height  far  beyond  the  limits 
prescribed  in  the  order,  and  the  result  was  the  removal  of 
the  local  governor  for  negligence  in  not  seeing  that  the  in¬ 
structions  wTere  properly  carried  out.  Meantime  the  town 
instituted  a  lawsuit  against  the  convent,  calling  upon  them 
to  substantiate  their  legal  title  to  the  land. 

Now,  one  third  of  the  population  of  Haifa  is  Moslem  and 
Jews,  and  about  two  thirds  are  Christian.  The  Christians 
are  all  under  the  direct  influence  of  the  convent,  and  the 
spirit  of  religious  fanaticism  runs  high  on  both  sides.  On 
measurement  being  made  of  the  land  claimed  by  the  convent 
it  was  found  to  amount  to  an  area  of  about  twelve  square 
miles.  According  to  Turkish  law  the  whole  of  this  would 
originally  belong  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  for  their 
common  use,  unless  the  town  council  had  at  some  time  or 
other  legally  parted  with  it  for  an  adequate  consideration. 
This  it  was  denied  on  the  part  of  the  municipality  that  they 
had  ever  done,  and  search  was  consequently  made  in  the 
records  for  the  act  of  sale,  which  would  have  been  registered. 


CONVENT  OF  CARMEL  versus  TOWN  OF  HAIFA.  283 

On  the  other  hand,  the  monks  had  a  duly-signed  document 
under  which  they  claimed,  but  which,  on  further  investiga¬ 
tion,  was  found  to  be  practically  a  fraud,  as  none  of  the  for¬ 
malities  had  been  complied  with,  and  the  seal  had  been 
affixed  illegally  by  an  officer  who  had  been  induced  for  a 
certain  consideration  to  perform  the  act.  It  is  not  contended 
that  the  monks  were  a  party  to  this  irregularity.  They  seem, 
indeed,  rather  to  have  been  the  victims  of  their  agent  at  the 
time,  who  perpetrated  it,  leaving  them  under  the  delusion 
that  they  possessed  a  valid  title,  but  the  discovery  left  the 
court  no  alternative  but  to  pronounce  judgment  against 
them.  Against  this  judgment  they  have  appealed  to  Con¬ 
stantinople,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  see  how  it  could  be 
reversed,  were  it  not  that  the  interests  involved  are  of  such 
a  peculiar  character  that  the  purely  legal  side  of  the  ques¬ 
tion  may  be  overlooked. 

The  prestige  which  the  order  of  barefooted  Carmelites  en¬ 
joys  in  all  Catholic  countries  is  so  great  that  the  most  power¬ 
ful  influences  will  be  invoked,  and  possibly  not  invoked  in 
vain,  in  their  favor.  Strong  articles  have  already  appeared 
on  the  subject  in  the  Continental  press  of  Europe.  The 
Emperor  of  Austria  has,  I  understand,  been  personally  ap¬ 
pealed  to,  while  the  pilgrims,  who,  to  the  number  of  about 
four  hundred,  have  already  visited  the  sacred  shrine  this 
year,  are  every  one  of  them  missionaries  who  will  be  so  many 
Peter  the  Hermits,  invoking  once  more  the  faith  of  the  true 
believer  to  protect  the  sacred  mountain  from  the  grasp  of 
the  infidel.  But  there  is  an  element  in  the  affair  which  re¬ 
moves  it  from  the  simple  category  of  Cross  versus  Crescent, 
and  that  is,  that  the  interests  of  some  three  hundred  Germans 
are  involved.  As  forming  part  of  the  population  of  Haifa, 
they  enjoy  equal  rights  with  the  rest  of  the  towns-people,  and 
Prince  Bismarck  is  not  a  man  to  see  their  rights  tamely 
abandoned  to  the  monks.  It  is  true  that  the  question  is  one 
which  affects  exclusively  the  Turkish  government,  and  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  it  would  not  willingly  deprive  an  Otto¬ 
man  population  of  twelve  square  miles  of  mountain  if  they 
are  legally  entitled  to  it,  but  the  united  pressure  of  Catholic 
Europe  might  be  too  powerful  a  force  for  the  Porte  to  resist 
single-handed.  It  is  a  different  matter  when  they  have  the 


284 


HAIFA. 


German  government  at  their  back,  and  this  quarrel  over  a 
right  of  way  and  a  patch  of  hillside  may  yet  be  pregnant 
with  important  consequences.  Had  the  convent  entered 
upon  large  agricultural  operations,  their  rights  over  land 
thus  brought  into  cultivation  could  not  be  disputed.  The 
complaint  of  the  population  is  that  they  neither  cultivate  it 
themselves,  nor  allow  others  to  cultivate  it,  or  even  to  graze 
their  flocks  upon  it.  The  exclusive  possession  thus  claimed 
has  deprived  the  German  colonists  of  one  of  the  most  im¬ 
portant  desiderata  for  the  success  of  their  colony. 

A  retreat  from  the  heats  of  summer  is  almost  essential  to 
the  health  of  the  colonists.  If  they  had  the  right  of  way 
claimed  they  could,  with  ease,  construct  a  wagon-road  to  the 
top  of  the  hill  overhanging  the  colony,  where,  at  an  eleva¬ 
tion  of  nine  hundred  feet,  they  would  be  in  full  enjoyment 
of  the  sea  breezes,  while  only  half  an  hour  distant  from  their 
homes.  The  money  necessary  for  the  construction  of  such 
a  sanitarium  was  provided  under  singular  circumstances  a 
few  weeks  ago.  I  was  riding  just  outside  the  town,  on  the 
Nazareth  road,  when  to  my  surprise  I  met  a  foreign  lady 
riding  by  herself,  accompanied  only  by  an  Arab,  an  unusual 
sight  in  this  country.  Following  her  was  a  covered  litter. 
On  returning  to  the  colony  an  hour  later  I  found  that  the 
litter  contained  the  body  of  the  husband  of  the  lady  I  had 
met.  He  had  died  in  it  on  the  road  from  Nazareth  a  couple 
of  hours  before  I  met  the  poor  widow,  a  perfect  stranger  and 
unable  to  speak  a  word  of  the  language,  forming  the  solitary 
attendant  of  her  husband’s  corpse.  These  painful  circum¬ 
stances  enlisted  the  warmest  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the 
colonists,  whose  kindness  and  consideration  so  overwhelmed 
the  lady,  who  was  herself  a  countrywoman,  that  before  leav¬ 
ing  she  presented  the  colony  with  a  check  for  $7500.  These 
simple  people  had  no  idea  when  they  were  lavishing  their 
kindness  on  the  widow  that  she  was  a  lady  of  large  fortune, 
and  this  was  their  unexpected  reward.  And  it  is  with  this 
money  they  hope  to  build  their  sanitarium. 


PROGRESS  EVEN  IN  PALESTINE. 


Haifa,  Jane  *7. — I  was  glad  to  avail  myself  of  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  revisit  Jerusalem  after  an  interval  of  six  years, 
and  by  a  journey  through  a  part  of  Judea  to  see  the  changes 
within  that  period.  The  attention  which  has  of  recent  years 
been  directed  towards  Palestine  has  perhaps  produced  more 
marked  results  in  this  province  than  in  Galilee,  and  in  some 
respects  its  progress  has  been  more  rapid.  This  is  partly 
owing  to  the  fact  that  for  the  past  eight  years  it  has  been 
under  the  administration  of  a  more  than  usually  enlightened 
pasha,  who  exercises  his  authority  independently  of  the 
Governor-General  of  Syria,  and  partly  because  its  holy 
places  prove  more  attractive  both  to  Jews  and  Gentiles  than 
do  those  of  Galilee.  Hence  there  has  been  a  larger  inflow 
of  capital  and  of  immigration. 

Three  miles  from  Jaffa  lies  the  German  colony  of  Sarona, 
which,  like  the  one  at  Haifa,  was  founded  some  years  ago  by 
the  Temple  Society.  It  resembles  the  one  there  in  the  char¬ 
acter  of  its  buildings  and  general  plan.  There  is  a  wide 
central  street  with  neat  stone  and  tiled  roofed  houses,  and 
two  rows  of  shade  trees,  with  a  short  cross  street,  church,  and 
schoolhouse,  and  that  general  air  of  cleanliness  and  comfort 
which  Germans  understand  so  well  how  to  impart  to  their 
settlements.  It  is  far  inferior  to  Haifa,  however,  both  on  the 
score  of  salubrity  and  beauty  of  position,  being  situated  on 
a  grassy,  rolling  country  destitute  of  woods,  some  miles  from 
the  sea  and  the  mountains.  There  is  therefore  something 
forlorn  in  the  solitude  of  its  position.  The  inhabitants  suf¬ 
fer  a  good  deal  from  fever,  and  many  deaths  took  place  last 
vear,  wldcli  was  unusually  unhealthy.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  its  proximity  to  so  large  and 
prosperous  a  town  as  Jaffa,  which  now  numbers  close  upon 
twenty  thousand  inhabitants,  enables  the  settlers  to  do 


286 


HAIFA. 


somewhat  better  financially  than  those  at  Haifa.  They  are 
engaged  in  extending  the  area  of  their  orange-groves  and 
vineyards;  and  as  the  general  experience  is  that  the  climate 
of  this  country  improves  under  the  influence  of  husbandry, 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  few  more  years  will  work  a  change 
in  this  respect,  as  they  certainly  must  in  the  general  attrac¬ 
tiveness  of  the  place.  The  Temple  Society  has  also  a  small 
colony  actually  in  the  suburbs  of  Jaffa,  the  members  of  which 
are  engaged  in  commercial  pursuits  in  that  town,  and  are 
doing  well. 

Since  I  last  visited  this  place  emigrant  Jews  from  Russia 
and  Roumania  have  established  no  fewer  than  four  colonies 
in  its  neighbourhood,  which,  however,  are  scattered  in  dif¬ 
ferent  directions  at  distances  of  several  miles  apart.  The 
circumstances  under  which  my  journey  was  made  prevented 
me,  unfortunately,  from  inspecting  them  as  thoroughly  as  I 
could  have  desired.  Two  of  these  are  under  the  protection 
of  Baron  Rothschild,  and  enjoy  such  pecuniary  support  from 
him  as  will  secure  their  future,  in  spite  of  the  obstacles 
which,  owing  to  government  opposition  and  other  local 
difficulties,  they  have  had  to  encounter.  So  far  as  energy, 
industry,  and  aptitude  for  agricultural  pursuits  are  con¬ 
cerned,  the  absence  of  which  has  always  been  alleged  as  the 
reason  why  no  Jewish  colony  could  succeed,  the  experience 
of  more  than  two  years  has  now  proved  that  such  apprehen¬ 
sions  are  groundless,  and  that  with  a  fair  chance  Jews  make 
very  good  colonists,  and  are  likely,  in  fact,  to  succeed  better 
in  this  country  as  agriculturists  than  in  America,  where  they 
have  the  skilled  industry  and  indomitable  energy  of  the 
American  farmer  to  compete  with,  instead  of  the  helpless 
ignorance  and  ingrained  indolence  of  the  native  fellahin, 

who  are  their  onlv  rivals  here. 

*/ 

Besides  these  two  colonies  there  are  two  others,  one  of 
which  has  been  struggling  on  unaided  for  the  last  seven  years, 
and  which  has  latterly  almost  succumbed  to  the  methods  which 
have  been  resorted  to  by  the  government  to  extinguish  it, 
but  which  has  within  the  last  month  derived  fresh  aid  and 
encouragement  from  the  visit  of  Dr.  Adler,  the  Grand  Rabbi 
of  London,  and  Mr.  Wissotsky,  the  delegate  of  a  society 
which  has  recently  been  formed  in  Poland,  called  “The 


PROGRESS  EVEN  IN  PALESTINE. 


287 


Lovers  of  Israel.”  The  visit  of  these  two  gentlemen  marks 
a  new  era  in  the  fortunes  of  the  Petach  Tikveli  colony,  as  it 
is  called,  as  it  resulted  in  the  substantial  donation  of  a  sum 
of  £300,  and  in  bringing  it  to  the  knowledge  of  the  public. 
One  of  the  chief  drawbacks  of  the  colony  has  been  the  un¬ 
healthiness  of  its  site,  and  the  purchase  of  a  healthy  hill-top, 
about  half  an  hour  distant,  has  been  attended  with  so  much 
difficulty  that  it  is  only  now  that  the  colonists  have  at  last 
secured  their  title  to  it  sufficiently  to  warrant  the  building 
of  houses  upon  it. 

Besides  these  four  Jewish  and  two  German  colonies  there 
has  been  for  fifteen  years  established  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Jaffa  a  large  Jewish  agricultural  college,  which  was 
founded  by  the  Israelite  Alliance,  for  the  purpose  of  edu¬ 
cating  Jewish  youths  in  agricultural  pursuits.  It  is  a  hand¬ 
some  and  extensive  building,  standing  a  little  to  the  right  of 
the  road  from  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem,  amid  groves  of  trees  and 
gardens,  and  surrounded  by  a  fine  tract  of  arable  land. 
Here  are  avenues  of  eucalypti  and  of  bamboos,  both  trees 
unknown  in  this  country,  and  which,  from  their  novelty,  form 
a  striking  feature  in  the  plantations  near  the  house.  For 
many  years  this  establishment  was  a  source  of  permanent  ex¬ 
pense  to  its  founders,  and  it  was  feared  that  the  results 
would  never  justify  the  original  outlay.  Their  perseverance 
has,  however,  met  with  its  reward.  The  increase  of  the  an¬ 
nual  income  last  year  amounted  to  $5000.  One  of  the  prin¬ 
cipal  sources  of  revenue  are  the  ethrogim,  or  gigantic  citrons, 
which  are  used  by  the  Jews  all  over  Europe  at  some  of  their 
religious  festivals,  and  which,  if  they  can  be  guaranteed  as 
coming  from  the  Holy  Land,  command  a  fictitious  price. 
Besides  these  they  export  oranges  and  vegetables,  and  have 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  wines  and  brandy,  for  which 
they  find  a  good  sale.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  as  Jewish 
colonies  in  Palestine  increase,  and  the  demand  for  skilled 
Jewish  agriculturists  conversant  with  the  local  methods  of 
cultivation  and  familiar  with  the  language  is  augmented,  a 
better  opening  will  be  found  for  the  youths  who  have  re¬ 
ceived  their  education  in  this  establishment.  Hitherto  the 
young  men,  after  receiving  a  good  education,  of  which  agri¬ 
cultural  science  only  formed  part,  have  generally  seen  their 


288 


HAIFA. 


way  on  leaving  the  college  to  engage  in  some  more  profit¬ 
able  and  congenial  pursuits  than  tilling  the  land.  As  a  rule, 
middle-aged  men  with  a  limited  education  and  large  families 
make  better  agriculturists  than  ambitious  and  well-educated 
youths. 

There  is  a  fifth  colony  in  Judea,  which  is  nearer  to  Jeru¬ 
salem  than  Jaffa,  formed  of  Jews  who  have  apparently  been 
hired  to  become  Christians,  by  being  provided  for  as  colonists; 
but  so  far  it  has  proved  a  failure.  The  government  has  re¬ 
fused  all  permission  to  build.  They  are  at  present  living  in 
a  large  wooden  shanty,  and  are  said  to  be  reverting  to  their 
old  faith,  as  they  find  that  the  new  one  does  not  pay. 

I  have  also  heard  of  a  sixth  colony  which  is  in  process  of 
formation,  so  that  adding  to  these  three  which  are  in  Galilee, 
there  are  altogether  nine  Jewish  colonies  now  in  Palestine — 
all  of  which,  with  one  exception,  have  been  established  within 
the  last  two  years  and  a  half,  in  spite  of  difficulties  which 
would  have  discouraged  people  animated  by  no  higher  senti¬ 
ment  than  that  of  merely  finding  a  living.  However  slow 
and  uncertain  their  progress  may  be  now,  these  first  settlers 
may  console  themselves  by  the  reflection  that  their  experi¬ 
ence  as  pioneers  will  be  of  incalculable  value  to  their  suc¬ 
cessors,  when  altered  conditions  may  arise,  which  shall  offer 
increased  inducement  to  emigration. 

Meantime,  it  is  as  well  that  intending  immigrants  should 
not  be  misled  by  the  delusive  reports  which  are  promulgated 
from  time  to  time  of  a  change  in  the  policy  of  the  govern¬ 
ment  in  this  respect.  Practically  the  opposition  to  Jewish 
colonization  on  the  part  of  the  authorities  is  as  stringent 
as  ever,  and  any  action  taken  upon  a  contrary  hypothesis 
will  only  lead  to  disappointment. 

This  increasing  tendency  to  flock  into  the  Holy  Land  is 
not  confined,  however,  to  Jews  alone.  There  is  an  annual 
augmentation  in  the  number  of  pilgrims  who  invade  it,  of 
nearly  all  the  Christian  sects,  besides  those  who  establish 
themselves  here  under  the  influence  of  various  religious  hob¬ 
bies.  Thus  the  foreign  and  Jewish  population  of  this  prov¬ 
ince  is  constantly  increasing,  and  the  effect  of  this  influx  is 
more  strikingly  marked  at  Jerusalem  than  elsewhere;  but  it 
is  natural  that  Jaffa,  as  the  port  of  Judea,  should  also  large- 


PROGRESS  EVEN  IN  PALESTINE. 


289 


ly  have  benefited  by  its  influence,  and  I  was  much  struck  by 
the  growth  of  the  place  and  the  signs  of  its  increasing  pros¬ 
perity.  This  is,  no  doubt,  due  also  in  some  measure  to  the 
excellent  carriage-road  which  now  connects  it  with  Jerusa¬ 
lem.  I  saw  several  large  gangs  of  men  at  work  upon  those 
sections  which  still  remain  of  the  old  rough  track,  which  in 
former  days  made  the  journey  between  these  places  upon 
wheels  a  positive  torture.  It  is  true  that  many  excruciating¬ 
ly  rough  places  still  remain,  but  another  year  will  remove 
them,  and  it  is  the  intention  of  the  present  governor  to  ex¬ 
tend  the  road  from  Jerusalem  by  way  of  Bethlehem  (it  is 
now  almost  completed  to  the  latter  place)  to  Hebron,  and 
also  to  connect  the  rich  country  east  of  the  Jordan  with 
Judea  by  a  carriage-road  which  is  in  immediate  contempla¬ 
tion  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho. 

The  rapidly  improving  facilities  for  travelling  in  Pales¬ 
tine,  the  annual  increase  in  the  number  of  tourists  who  each 
year  visit  it,  the  numerous  ecclesiastical  and  charitable  es¬ 
tablishments  which  have  been  already  constructed  and  are 
yearly  extended,  the  influx  of  foreign  capital  resulting  there¬ 
from,  and  the  increase  of  the  foreign  population,  both  Jew 
and  Christian,  all  tend  to  give  Palestine  an  exceptional  posi¬ 
tion  as  a  province  in  the  Turkish  empire.  It  is  the  only  one, 
indeed,  where  the  evidences  of  progress  are  steady  and  sub¬ 
stantial;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  one  of  the  most 
marked  results  of  this  progress  will  be  the  importance  which 
the  Holy  Land  is  destined  to  assume  in  the  event  of  the 
Eastern  question  being  reopened,  for  there  is  no  province  in 
the  empire  upon  which  political  and  religious  interests  of  so 
varied  and  universal  a  nature  are  concentrated. 

19 


THE  RECENT  DISCOVERY  OF  GEZER. 


Jerusalem,  June  23. — I  was  much  struck  on  my  way  from 
Jaffa  to  this  place  the  other  day  by  contrasting  the  different 
systems  which  are  resorted  to  by  the  varied  races  of  for¬ 
eigners  who  are  invading  Palestine.  There  is  the  Jew,  with 
curling  ear-locks  and  greasy  gaberdine,  and  wallet  slung 
over  his  shoulder,  trudging  painfully  along  the  dusty  road. 
He  has  had  hard  work  to  slip  into  the  country  at  all,  and  has 
only  succeeded  probably  by  means  of  backshish  and  a  false 
passport.  He  has  undergone  discomfort  and  privations  in¬ 
numerable  to  win  the  privilege,  which,  to  judge  by  his  wan 
and  sickly  face,  is  not  likely  long  to  be  denied  him,  of  dying 
in  Jerusalem. 

As  he  plods  on,  leaning  wearily  on  his  long  staff,  he  is  al¬ 
most  run  over  by  a  bright  yellow  barouche  dashing  along 
the  road,  with  four  horses,  in  a  style  which  shows  how  rapidly 
Western  civilization  is  striding  into  the  East.  It  is  an  Eng¬ 
lish  duke  “doing”  Palestine.  He  is  followed  by  a  motley 
group  of  his  own  country  men  and  women,  mounted  on  horses 
and  donkeys,  the  women  for  the  most  part  apparently  old 
maids  in  straw  hats,  green  spectacles,  and  veils,  while  a  large 
proportion  of  the  men  are  evidently  parsons,  who  wear  cleri¬ 
cal  coats  and  waistcoats  and  unclerical  pith  hats  and  jack 
boots.  The  whole  party,  consisting  of  about  thirty  persons, 
white  with  dust,  are  preceded  by  an  elaborately  attired 
dragoman,  whom  they  are  about  to  follow  over  the  country 
like  a  flock  of  sheep,  for  they  are  the  last  batch  of  the  season 
of  Cook’s  tourists. 

But  they  were  not  to  be  compared  for  picturesqueness  or 
singularity  of  appearance  with  the  next  cortege  which  I 
overtook,  and  the  aspect  of  which,  from  a  distance,  puzzled 
me  excessively.  There  appeared  in  front  of  me  a  large  ob¬ 
ject  of  some  sort,  which  was  being  slowly  dragged  along  by 


THE  RECENT  DISCOVERY  OF  GEZER. 


291 


a  crowd  of  people  who  were  evidently  not  natives  of  the 
country.  On  reaching  it  I  found  that  it  was  a  huge  bell, 
weighing  seven  or  eight  tons,  most  elaborately  ornamented 
with  scriptural  and  sacred  designs  in  basso-rilievo ,  and  which, 
placed  on  a  truck  with  low  wheels,  was  being  hauled  by 
about  eighty  Russian  peasants,  more  than  half  of  whom 
were  women.  Looking  on  this  singular  group  of  rugged- 
featured  people,  with  their  light  hair  and  Kalmuck  coun¬ 
tenances,  one  felt  suddenly  transported  from  the  hills  of 
Palestine  to  the  steppes  of  Southern  Russia.  The  men  wore 
high  boots,  baggy  trousers,  long  full-skirted  coats,  tight  at 
the  waist,  and  flat  caps,  and  the  women  the  sombre  and  dowdy 
habiliments  common  to  the  Russian  peasant  class.  They 
were  all  yoked  by  the  breast  with  ropes  to  the  truck,  tug¬ 
ging  it  slowly  but  cheerfully  along,  and  when  I  stopped  and 
tried  to  stammer  out  the  few  words  of  Russian  which  I  still 
remembered,  they  greeted  my  attempts  with  loud  shouts  of 
laughter,  and  made  explanations  which  my  knowledge  of  the 
language  was  too  limited  to  enable  me  to  comprehend.  But 
my  curiosity  was  destined  to  be  satisfied  at  a  later  period  on 
the  arrival  of  this  precious  burden  at  Jerusalem.  Meantime 
I  could  not  but  regard  with  interest  the  eager  devotion  of 
these  poor  people,  and  especially  of  the  women,  who  were 
thus  satisfying  a  religious  instinct  by  exercising  the  func¬ 
tions  of  draught  animals,  and  toiling  up  the  road  they 
deemed  so  sacred  to  the  holy  city,  which  is  invested  with  a 
higher  sanctity  to  the  adherents  of  the  Greek  rite  than  to 
those  of  any  other  Christian  communion.  I  found  afterwards 
that  it  took  them  just  a  week  to  drag  their  bell  up  to  Jeru¬ 
salem,  many  falling  ill  by  the  way,  and  one  dying,  and  rein¬ 
forcements  had  to  be  sent  from  Jerusalem  to  assist  them. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  various  houses  which  have  been 
built  for  the  accommodation  of  travellers  the  mortality 
would  probably  have  been  greater,  but  the  increase  of  travel 
along  this  road  has  multiplied  the  number  of  rest-houses, 
and  there  are  now  four  or  five  of  various  degrees  of  excel¬ 
lence,  to  say  nothing  of  Greek  and  Catholic  convents,  more 
or  less  far  from  the  road,  to  which  pilgrims  can  resort.  The 
new  hotel  which  has  just  been  put  up  by  a  German  colonist 
at  Ramleh  is  among  the  most  conspicuous  of  these  improve- 


292 


HAIFA. 


ments;  and  here,  as  the  place  is  one  of  some  archaeological 
interest,  and  1  thought  the  enterprise  of  my  host  deserved  to 
he  encouraged,  I  stayed  to  pass  the  night. 

In  the  centuries  immediately  subsequent  to  the  crusades, 
Ramleh  is  often  mentioned  by  the  old  chroniclers,  for  it  was 
then,  as  now,  a  favorite  resting-place  for  travellers  and  pil¬ 
grims  on  their  way  between  Jaffa  and  Jerusalem.  But  it 
gradually  fell  into  decay,  and  three  hundred  years  ago,  when 
the  traveller  Belon  was  there,  he  found  it  almost  deserted, 
scarcely  twelve  houses  being  inhabited,  and  the  fields  mostly 
untilled.  It  is  now  one  of  the  most  go-ahead  places  in 
Palestine,  containing  a  population  of  at  least  five  thousand, 
and  is  surrounded  by  extensive  gardens  and  olive  groves, 
above  which  the  lofty  tower  erected  by  the  Sultan  Bibars, 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  conspicuously  rears  its  graceful 
proportions. 

By  far  the  most  interesting  spot,  however,  in  the  whole  of 
this  section  of  country  lies  about  two  miles  to  the  right  of 
the  road  from  Ramleh  to  Jerusalem,  an  hour  after  leaving 
the  former  place,  which  places  it  as  much  out  of  the  track 
of  tourists  as  if  it  were  a  day’s  journey.  It  is  a  mound  called 
Tell  el-Gezer,  at  the  village  of  Abu  Shusheh.  This  village  is 
the  property  of  a  Mr.  Bergheim,  a  Jew  banker  of  Jerusalem, 
who  owns  an  estate  here  of  about  five  thousand  acres,  from 
which  I  may  say,  en  passa?it,  that  he  derives  a  very  large 
revenue.*  Apart  from  the  interest  of  the  fact  of  a  Jew  be¬ 
ing  so  large  a  landed  proprietor  in  Palestine,  Abu  Shusheh 
has  claims  upon  our  notice  which  have  only  recently  been 
discovered,  and  which  to  those  who  have  been  bitten  with 
the  enthusiasm  of  elucidating  the  ancient  topography  of 
Palestine,  and  identifying  its  antique  sites,  is  replete  with 
the  highest  importance. 

Among  those  who  have  devoted  themselves  to  the  study 
of  Palestine  geography  and  antiquarian  research  the  French 
savant  Monsieur  Clermont  Ganneau  ranks  second  to  none. 
One  of  the  problems  which  has  for  many  years  excited  the 
interest  and  curiosity  of  Palestine  explorers  was  the  where- 


*  Since  the  above  was  written  Mr.  Bergheim  has  been  brutally  murdered 
by  the  peasants  on  his  estate. 


THE  RECENT  DISCOVERY  OF  GEZER. 


293 


abouts  of  the  ancient  city  of  Gezer.  We  gather  from  the 
Biblical  record  that  this  was  an  important  town  prior  to  the 
arrival  and  settlement  of  the  Israelites  in  the  country.  In 
the  book  of  Joshua  it  is  classed  among  the  royal  cities  of 
Canaan.  Its  king,  Horam,  was  defeated  by  Joshua  while  at¬ 
tempting  to  relieve  Lacliish,  which  was  besieged  by  the  Is¬ 
raelites.  Later  it  wTas  included  in  the  territory  of  the  tribe 
of  Ephraim,  and  assigned  to  the  Levitical  family  of  Kohath. 
It  is  mentioned  several  times  during  the  wars  between  David 
and  the  Philistines,  and  during  Solomon’s  reign  one  of  the 
Pharaohs  made  an  expedition  against  it,  which  resulted  in 
the  capture  and  burning  of  the  town.  It  afterwards  became 
part  of  the  dowry  of  Pharaoh’s  daughter  when  she  became 
Solomon’s  wife,  and  he  rebuilt  it.  The  last  we  hear  of  it 
was  in  the  wars  of  the  Maccabees,  wThen  it  reappears  under 
the  name  of  Gazara.  Taken  by  assault  in  the  first  instance 
by  the  Jews,  it  passed  successively  into  the  hands  of  the  two 
contending  parties,  who  attached  equal  importance  to  its 
possession.  John  Hyrcanus,  the  Jewish  commander,  made 
it  his  military  residence. 

It  was  during  his  study  of  the  old  Arab  geographers  that 
M.  Clermont  Ganneau  came  upon  the  name  Tell  el-Gezer,  and 
finding  that  it  met  all  the  topographical  requirements  of 
the  Bible,  he  went  in  search  of  it  at  Abu  Shusheh.  Here  he 
found  that  a  mound  on  Mr.  Bergheim’s  property  was  known 
to  the  natives  by  that  name,  though  it  was  too  insignificant 
ever  to  have  figured  on  any  map.  On  making  minute  in¬ 
vestigation,  he  discovered,  to  his  delight,  a  bilingual  inscrip¬ 
tion  ;  the  first  word,  in  Greek  characters  of  the  classical  epoch, 
was  tho  name  of  a  man,  “  Alkio,”  immediately  followed  by 
Hebrew  letters  of  ancient  square  form,  the  translation  of 
which  was  “limit  of  Gezer.”  This  settled  the  question,  and 
the  English  Palestine  Exploration  Fund  at  once  sent  a  spe¬ 
cial  mission  to  verify  Monsieur  Ganneau’s  discoveries.  This 
they  did  most  completely,  finding  four  other  inscriptions, 
besides  making  a  most  complete  survey  of  the  place.  As  is 
not  uncommon  with  such  very  ancient  remains,  the  first  as¬ 
pect  of  the  spot  is  disappointing.  There  are,  in  fact,  no 
mins  visible,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  terraces  on  the 
Tell,  consisting  of  large  blocks  of  unhewn  stone.  The  Tell 


294 


HAIFA . 


itself,  on  which  part  of  the  city  appears  to  have  stood,  is  a 
sort  of  ridge  about  six  hundred  yards  long,  one  hundred 
across,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  surround¬ 
ing  rocky  valleys.  The  foundations  of  the  ancient  houses 
may  be  traced  possibly  in  the  numerous  rock-cuttings  with 
which  the  place  abounds,  but  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish 
them  from  cuttings  for  quarrying  stone  on  the  old  method, 
and  certainly  many  of  the  cuttings  were  those  of  quarriers. 
There  are  the  remains  of  what  was  apparently  an  old  fortress 
at  the  eastern  end  of  the  Tell,  but  the  most  remarkable 
features  are  the  numerous  wine-presses,  which  number  about 
thirty,  some  of  them  in  an  excellent  state  of  preservation. 
There  are  also  some  tombs,  but  these  are  rare  and  scattered, 
which  is  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  this  was  a  Le- 
vitical  city,  within  the  limits  of  which  no  interment  was  al¬ 
lowed.  There  are  numerous  chips  of  stone,  some  apparently 
basaltic,  and  much  broken  pottery  all  over  the  Tell,  and 
many  flints,  some  of  which  were  worked,  have  been  discov¬ 
ered.  While  he  was  building  his  house,  which  is  just  under 
the  Tell,  Mr.  Bergheim  found  a  deep  cistern  about  forty  feet 
square,  lined  with  small  stones  and  covered  with  two  coats 
of  cement,  which  was  hard  and  white;  the  walls  were  about 
two  feet  thick,  and  it  seemed  to  have  a  niche  in  its  eastern 
wall,  as  though  it  had  at  one  time  been  used  as  a  chapel.  In 
the  niche  a  cross  was  found,  painted  red,  and  beneath  it  a 
stone  altar,  which  has  been  removed;  but  all  this  points  to 
an  early  Christian  occupation.  Mr.  Bergheim  has  since  con¬ 
verted  the  cistern  to  its  original  use.  He  also  found  a 
curious  idol  in  hard  red  pottery.  The  fellahin  say  that 
many  of  these  “  dolls,”  as  they  call  them,  used  to  be  picked 
up,  and  were  given  to  the  children  as  playthings.  Flint  in¬ 
struments,  earthenware  weights,  and  rubbers  in  composition, 
for  use  in  cementing  cisterns,  have  been  found  in  ploughing 
on  the  Tell,  and  near  its  southwest  extremity  a  number  of 
skeletons  were  discovered,  apparently  of  persons  slain  in  bat¬ 
tle;  one  had  a  sword-cut  on  the  skull.  An  aqueduct  cut  in 
the  rock  is  also  traceable  along  the  hillside. 

Altogether  the  place  is  a  good  deal  more  interesting  than 
it  looks  at  first  sight,  and  had  its  owner  been  an  antiquary 
he  would  doubtless  have  had  splendid  opportunities  of  mak- 


THE  RECENT  DISCOVERY  OF  GEZER. 


295 


ing  a  valuable  collection.  That  the  spot  has  always  had  a 
semi-sacred  character  in  the  eyes  of  the  country  people  is 
evident  from  the  traditions  which  attach  to  it.  One  is  that 
the  city  of  ISToah  stood  upon  the  hill  here,  and  that  the  deluge 
came  from  a  place  called  Et  Tannar,  which  is  a  cavity  with 
an  old  well  on  the  east  slope  of  the  hill.  The  modern  name 
Abu  Shusheh,  or  “  Father  of  the  Topknot,”  is  said  to  be  de¬ 
rived  from  a  dervish  who  prayed  for  rain  in  time  of  drought, 
and  was  told  by  a  sand  diviner  that  he  would  perish  if  it 
came.  The  water  came  out  of  the  earth  and  formed  a  pool, 
into  which  he  stepped  and  was  drowned.  The  people,  seeing 
only  his  topknot  left,  cried,  “Ya  Abu  Shusheh”  (O  Father 
of  the  Topknot). 

It  is  a  pity  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  one  deciphered 
by  Monsieur  Ganneau,  the  inscriptions  are  so  much  effaced 
that,  although  certain  characters  can  be  made  out,  they  have 
hitherto  defied  translation.  Some  of  them  appear  to  ap¬ 
proach  to  the  later  Hebrew  forms,  while  others  bear  some 
resemblance  to  Cufic. 

There  are  other  sites  of  interest  which  lie  more  or  less  dis¬ 
tant  from  the  road  from  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem,  but  I  had  not 
time  to  visit  them,  though  the  comparatively  more  advanced 
state  of  civilization  of  this  province  and  the  good  accommo¬ 
dation  to  be  found  on  the  road  would  facilitate  the  explorer’s 
task.  On  the  other  hand,  the  examination  of  this  part  of 
the  country  has  been  so  thorough  that  he  cannot  hope  for 
the  rich  rewards  that  are  to  be  found  in  more  inaccessible 
districts. 


TRADITIONAL  SITES  AT  JERUSALEM. 


Haifa,  July  20. — It  is  a  melancholy  reflection,  and  one 
by  no  means  creditable  to  the  Christianity  which  prevailed 
in  the  fourth  century  after  Christ,  that  the  Jerusalem  of 
the  present  day,  the  Holy  City  of  the  world  par  excellence, 
should  contain  within  its  walls  more  sacred  shams  and  im¬ 
postures  than  any  other  city  in  the  world.  The  responsi¬ 
bility  for  the  gross  superstition  which  prevails  in  regard  to 
sites  and  localities  mainly  rests  with  the  fourth  century,  and 
chiefly  with  the  Empress  Helena,  who  was  principally  instru¬ 
mental  in  inventing  them,  and  the  Christian  churches,  espe¬ 
cially  the  Greek  and  Latin,  find  it  in  their  interest  to  foster 
these  transparent  frauds,  for  the  enormous  pecuniary  advan¬ 
tages  which  accrue  from  them. 

The  extraordinary  amount  of  research  and  investigation 
of  wThich  Jerusalem  has  been  the  subject  during  the  last 
twenty  years,  the  extent  of  the  excavations  which  have  been 
made,  involving  an  expenditure  of  about  $100,000,  and  the 
conscientious  impartiality  and  profound  acquirements  of  the 
explorers,  have  demolished  the  wThole  superstructure  which 
early  and  mediaeval  Christianity  had  reared  upon  the  cre¬ 
dulity  of  its  votaries;  and  which  the  churches  of  the  present 
day,  despite  all  the  evidences  to  the  contrary,  find  it  in  their 
interest  to  perpetuate.  Thus  it  has  now  been  proved  to 
demonstration  that,  wherever  the  tomb  in  which  Christ  wras 
laid  after  his  crucifixion  may  have  been,  it  could  not  have 
been  in  the  cave  over  which  the  gorgeous  edifice  called  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  now  stands  ;  for  wre  now 
know  by  recent  examination  the  position  of  the  walls  which 
enclosed  the  city  in  the  time  of  Christ,  though  some  still 
deny  the  correctness  of  the  latest  conclusions  wdiich  have 
been  arrived  at.  We  also  know  that  Calvary,  or  Golgotha, 
where  he  was  crucified,  wTas  “nigh  at  hand”  to  the  sepul¬ 
chre  ;  that  Golgotha  was  “  nigh  to  the  city,”  and  not  in  it, 


TRADITIONAL  SITES  AT  JERUSALEM. 


297 


and  that  Jesus  “suffered  without  the  gate,”  and  that  all 
tombs,  saving  those  of  David  and  Huldah  and  eight  Jewish 
kings,  were  without  the  walls,  while  the  cave  over  which  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  is  built  is  within  them.  As, 
however,  even  the  churches  do  not  go  so  far  as  to  maintain 
that  any  tradition  had  been  preserved  among  Christians  dur¬ 
ing  the  first  three  centuries  after  the  death  of  Christ  of  his 
place  of  burial,  they  have  had  to  resort  to  inspiration  as  the 
means  of  its  discovery.  Some  of  the  early  writers  maintain 
that  it  was  the  Emperor  Constantine  himself  who  was  divine¬ 
ly  inspired  to  find  it  ;  others  that  it  was  his  mother,  the  Em¬ 
press  Helena.  This  is  a  trifling  discrepancy.  Whichever 
it  was,  the  fact  of  the  inspiration  remains,  and  scientific 
investigation  has,  ever  since  the  days  of  Galileo,  been  bound 
to  give  way  before  ecclesiastical  inspiration  and  infallibility. 
So,  no  matter  whatever  evidences  exist  to  the  contrary, 
crowds  of  pilgrims  will  continue  to  crawl  over  those  sancti¬ 
fied  stones,  wearing  them  hollow  with  their  kisses,  as  long 
as  the  sacerdotal  organization  of  which  it  is  the  representa¬ 
tive  remains  to  impose  upon  them  its  authority. 

With  considerate  ingenuity,  and  possibly  with  a  view  to 
lightening  the  labors  of  the  pilgrims  as  much  as  possible, 
the  early  Church  crowded  as  many  sacred  stones  together 
under  the  roof  of  the  holy  edifice  as  it  could  with  decency. 
Thus  we  have  the  Stone  of  Unction,  on  which  Christ’s  body 
was  laid  for  anointing,  but  it  was  getting  so  worn  that  the 
real  stone  lies  below  the  marble  slab,  which,  however,  an¬ 
swers  the  purpose  for  the  pilgrims.  Close  by  is  the  Circular 
Stone,  where  the  Virgin  stood  while  the  body  wTas  being 
anointed  ;  also  the  stone  on  which  Jesus  stood  when  he 
appeared  to  Mary  Magdalene,  and  the  stone  on  which  she 
stood,  and  the  column  to  which  he  was  bound  when  scourged; 
and  your  devout  guide  will  show  you,  if  you  have  the  pa¬ 
tience  to  attend  to  him,  the  exact  place  where  Jesus  was 
stripped  by  the  soldiers,  the  place  where  the  purple  robe 
was  put  on  him,  the  place  where  the  soldiers  cast  lots  for 
his  raiment,  the  rent  in  the  rock  made  by  the  earthquake, 
the  place  where  his  body  was  wrapped  in  linen  cloths,  the 
place  where  he  indicated  with  his  own  hand  the  centre  of 
the  world,  and  so  on,  ad  nauseam. 


298 


HAIFA. 


Sometimes  another  Church  commits  a  burglary  and  steals 
some  of  these  stones.  The  Armenians  have  been  especially 
guilty  in  this  respect.  They  have  stolen  from  the  holy  sepul¬ 
chre  the  stone  on  which  the  angel  sat,  that  had  been  rolled 
away  from  the  door  of  the  sepulchre,  which  they  now  dis¬ 
play  in  the  chapel  of  the  Palace  of  Caiaphas;  also  a  piece  of 
the  true  cross,  which  was  originally  discovered  under  inspira¬ 
tion  by  Helena,  as  well  as  that  of  the  penitent  thief,  who  is 
now  canonized  under  the  name  of  Dimas.  I  don’t  know 
what  authority  they  have  for  calling  him  Dimas,  whose 
reputed  birthplace  is,  for  political  reasons,  going  to  be  con¬ 
verted  into  another  holy  place.  There  is  something  rather 
appropriate  in  the  idea  of  the  power  that  is  waiting  for  a 
chance  to  despoil  the  Turkish  empire  of  Syria  erecting  a 
shrine  in  worship  of  the  penitent  thief. 

The  most  remarkable  sites  are  those  which  illustrate  the 
parables.  Thus,  pilgrims  are  shown  the  window  which  was 
the  post  of  observation  of  Dives,  and  the  stone,  now  worn 
by  the  kisses  of  the  faithful,  where  Lazarus  sat  when  the 
dog  licked  his  sores.  I  asked  my  guide  where  the  dog  was, 
but  he  said  he  was  dead,  and  added,  with  a  smile,  “  I  don’t 
believe  any  of  these  things.” 

I  asked  him  why  not. 

“  Ob,”  he  replied,  “I’m  a  Jew.” 

After  that  the  glibness  with  which  he  pattered  off  all  the 
Christian  traditions  was  very  edifying  until  my  patience  was 
exhausted,  and  I  said,  “Well,  supposing,  as  we  neither  of 
us  believe  in  any  of  these  invented  sites,  wTe  go  and  try  and 
find  something  that  is  real.” 

He  had  been  in  the  service  of  some  of  the  recent  Jerusa¬ 
lem  explorers,  and  I  afterwards  found  him  an  intelligent 
companion. 

It  is  a  striking  illustration  of  Moslem  religious  toleration, 
as  compared  with  that  shown  by  Christians  in  Jerusalem 
towards  Jews,  that  while  this  man  could  accompany  me  into 
the  Mosque  of  Omar,  that  most  beautiful  and  sacred  of  Mo¬ 
hammedan  temples,  he  was  not  allowed  even  to  enter  the 
street  in  which  stands  the  Christian  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre. 

So  far  as  Christian  rites  are  concerned,  it  may,  then,  be 


TRADITIONAL  SITES  AT  JERUSALEM. 


299 


taken  as  a  fact  that  the  interest  which  attaches  to  Jemsalem 
has  but  a  very  slender  relation  to  them.  The  great  natural 
features,  of  course,  must  always  remain.  Bethlehem,  Beth¬ 
any,  and  the  Mount  of  Olives  are  as  they  ever  were,  but 
there  are  two  Gardens  of  Gethsemane,  one  claimed  by  the 
Latins  and  one  by  the  Greeks.  When  we  descend  to  more 
minute  details  they  are  either  purely  mythical  or  at  best 
only  matters  of  vague  conjecture.  One  of  the  best  illustra¬ 
tions  of  the  purely  mythical  is  Christ’s  footprint  on  the  rock 
from  which  he  ascended  into  heaven,  which  is  a  good  deal 
smaller  than  that  of  Buddha,  which  I  have  also  seen  on  the 
top  of  Adam’s  Peak  in  Ceylon,  or  of  Jethro,  which  the 
Druses  showed  me  in  the  Neby  Sehaib. 

Among  those  open  to  conjecture,  the  position  of  Calvary 
and  the  tomb  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea  are  points  upon  which 
research  may  still  throw  light.  Every  indication  goes  to 
show  that  Golgotha,  or  Calvary,  was  a  knoll  outside  the  Da¬ 
mascus  gate,  exactly  in  the  opposite  direction  to  that  affixed 
by  Christian  tradition,  and  which  would  do  away  with  the 
Via  Dolorosa  as  a  sacred  thoroughfare,  the  street  shown  as 
that  along  which  Christ  bore  his  cross  on  his  way  to  execu¬ 
tion.  It  is  only  probable  that  Calvary  was  the  ordinary 
execution  ground  of  Jerusalem,  which  is  called  in  the  Tal¬ 
mud  “  the  House  of  Stoning  ”  about  a.d.  150,  and  which 
current  tradition  among  the  Jews  identifies  with  this  knoll, 
a  tradition  borne  out  by  the  account  of  it  contained  in  the 
Mishnah,  or  text  of  the  Talmud,  which  describes  a  cliff 
over  which  the  condemned  was  thrown  by  the  first  witness. 
If  he  was  not  killed  by  the  fall,  the  second  witness  cast  a 
stone  on  him,  and  the  crowd  on  the  cliff  or  beneath  it  com¬ 
pleted  his  execution.  It  was  outside  the  gate,  at  some  dis¬ 
tance  from  the  Judgment  Hall.  The  knoll  in  question  is 
just  outside  the  gate,  with  a  cliff  about  fifty  feet  high. 
Moreover,  we  are  informed  that  sometimes  “they  sunk  a 
beam  in  the  ground,  and  a  crossbeam  extended  from  it,  and 
they  bound  his  hands,  one  over  the  other,  and  hung  him 
up.”  (Sanhedrim  vi.  4.)  Thus  the  House  of  Stoning  was 
a  recognized  place  of  crucifixion.  It  is  curious  that  an  early 
Christian  tradition  pointed  to  this  site  as  the  place  of  ston¬ 
ing  of  Stephen,  the  proto-martyr.  The  vicinity  has  appar- 


300 


HAIFA. 


ently  always  been  considered  unlucky.  An  Arab  writer  in 
the  Middle  Ages  pronounces  a  barren  tract  adjoining  ac¬ 
cursed  and  haunted,  so  that  the  traveller  should  not  pass 
it  at  night. 

The  Valley  of  Judgment  (or  Jehosaphat),  which  the  Arab 
calls  the  Valley  of  Hell,  passes  not  far  east  of  the  knoll, 
the  Arab  name  of  which  is  Heirimayeli,  probably  from  a 
cave  in  the  knoll  called  Jeremiah’s  grotto.  The  idea  that 
this  was  in  fact  the  Place  of  the  Skull  was  warmly  adopted 
by  the  late  heroic  defender  of  Khartoum,  General  Gordon, 
who  spent  the  }mar  before  he  went  on  his  fatal  mission  to 
the  Soudan  in  investigating  points  bearing  on  these  subjects 
as  tending  to  uphold  theories  which  he  held  in  regard  to 
them,  and  which  he  explained  to  me  at  great  length.  Be¬ 
fore  leaving  England  he  sent  some  notes  on  these  to  the 
Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  and  in  their  last  quarterly 
statement  these  are  published.  They  are  full  of  pathetic 
interest  now.  In  regard  to  the  Place  of  the  Skull,  General 
Gordon  says  that  “  the  mention  of  the  Place  of  the  Skull  in 
each  of  the  four  Gospels  is  a  call  to  attention.  Whenever  a 
mention  of  any  particular  is  made  frequently  we  may  rely 
there  is  something  in  it.  If  the  sjaill  is  mentioned  four  times, 
one  naturally  looks  for  the  body,  and  if  you  take  Warren’s 
or  other  contours,  with  the  earth  or  rubbish  removed,  show¬ 
ing  the  natural  state  of  the  land,  you  cannot  help  seeing 
that  there  is  a  body,  that  the  conduit  (discovered  by  Shick) 
is  the  oesophagus,  that  the  quarries  are  the  chest,  and  if 
you  are  venturesome  you  will  carry  out  the  analogy  further. 
You  find  in  the  verse  in  the  Psalms,  ‘Zion  on  the  sides  of 
the  North,’  the  word  ‘pleura,’  the  same  as  they  ‘pierced  his 
pleuron,  and  there  came  forth  blood  and  water.’  God  took 
a  pleuron  from  the  side  of  Adam  and  made  woman.  Now 
the  Church  of  Christ  is  made  up  of  or  came  from  his  pleura. 
The  stones  of  the  Temple  came  from  the  quarries,  or  chest 
of  the  figure,  and  so  on.  So  that  fixed  the  figure  of  the 
body  to  the  skull.” 

This  theory  led  to  Gordon’s  forming  a  singular  and  mys¬ 
tical  conception  of  the  emblematic  character  of  the  city  as 
typifying  in  actual  configuration  the  New  Jerusalem,  the 
divine  bride. 


TRADITIONAL  SITES  AT  JERUSALEM. 


301 


The  most  interesting  fact,  however,  in  connection  with 
this  knoll  is  the  recent  discovery  upon  it  of  a  tomb,  which 
has  excited  considerable  interest  as  being,  from  its  position, 
more  likely  to  be  the  tomb  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  in  which 
never  man  had  been  laid  before  Christ,  than  any  hitherto 
known.  From  the  knowledge  we  have  now  acquired  of 
rock-cut  tombs  in  Palestine  we  are  able  to  judge  from  its 
appearance  and  construction  its  probable  date,  and  these  all 
go  to  prove  that  it  belongs  to  the  later  Jewish  period,  or 
that  which  terminated  with  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 
The  appearance  of  this  tomb  so  near  the  old  place  of  exe¬ 
cution,  and  so  far  from  the  other  tombs  in  the  old  ceme¬ 
teries  of  the  city,  is  very  remarkable.  A  careful  plan  of 
the  site  and  tomb  has  been  made  by  Lieutenant  Mantell, 
R.  E.,  and  sent  to  England,  where  the  subject  has  lately 
afforded  matter  for  discussion.  The  reason  why  the  tomb 
was  not  found  by  the  early  Christians  in  their  search  for 
it  at  the  time  of  Constantine  is  easy  to  be  accounted  for 
by  the  fact  that,  about  ten  years  after  the  crucifixion,  the 
“  Women’s  Towers”  were  built  by  Agrippa  upon  the  rock 
over  the  tomb,  and  it  must  have  been  hidden  beneath  or 
within  the  new  building.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
sepulchre  could  no  longer  be  visited,  and  in  course  of  time 
its  existence  was  forgotten,  until  the  Empress  Helena  de¬ 
stroyed  the  temple  to  Venus  which  the  Romans  had  built 
on  the  present  site  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  Church,  and  “be¬ 
yond  all  hope”  (as  Eusebius  words  it),  discovered  the  rock- 
cut  Jewish  tomb,  which  the  faithful  accepted  as  the  tomb 
of  Christ. 

A  peculiar  interest  does  nevertheless  attach  to  these  ex¬ 
tremely  ancient  tombs  in  the  Holy  Sepulchre  Church,  one 
of  which  is  now  appropriated  to  Nicodemus,  the  nature  of 
which  I  will  discuss  in  my  next  letter.  It  is  extremely 
probable  that  either  Constantine  or  Helena  heard  that 
tombs  of  a  high  sanctity  stood  beneath  the  Venus  tem¬ 
ple,  and  they  thought  they  could  not  do  better  than  take 
the  most  sacred  tomb  to  which  tradition  of  any  sort  at¬ 
tached,  and  call  it  the  holy  sepulchre.  Modern  iconoclas- 
ticism  and  love  of  truth  have,  however,  proved  too  strong 
for  fourteen  hundred  years  of  unfounded  tradition.  If  the 


302 


HAIFA. 


churches  had  only  taken  half  as  much  trouble  to  preserve 
the  moral  truths  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  teachings 
of  Christ,  as  they  have  to  preserve  a  cave  in  which  he  was 
never  buried,  the  world  would  have  been  so  much  the  bet¬ 
ter  instead  of  so  much  the  worse  for  their  exertions. 


TRADITIONAL  SITES  AT  JERUSALEM —  Continued. 


Haifa,  August  3. — The  discoveries  which  have  been  made 
in  Jerusalem  during  the  last  few  years,  and  the  conclusions 
at  wdiich  those  who  have  most  deeply  studied  the  subject 
have  arrived  in  consequence,  render  it  extremely  desirable 
that  a  new  or  revised  description  of  the  Holy  City  should 
be  inserted  in  the  tourists’  hand-books  for  Syria  and  Pales¬ 
tine.  Travellers  should  be  warned  against  dragomans  wrho 
waste  their  time  taking  them  to  see  Christian  sites  which 
have  no  relation  to  the  facts  they  are  supposed  to  commem¬ 
orate,  and  possess  no  interest  of  any  kind  beyond  the  philo¬ 
sophical  one  that  they  illustrate  the  extraordinary  credulity 
and  superstitions  which  exist  among  the  professors  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  which  are  certainly 
not  exceeded,  even  if  they  are  paralleled,  by  those  of  any 
heathen  religion. 

A  Jerusalem  hand-book,  to  be  of  any  interest,  should  deal 
with  the  conclusions  resulting  from  the  excavations  and  re¬ 
searches  of  Sir  Charles  Wilson,  Sir  Charles  Warren,  Captain 
Conder,  M.  Clermont  Ganneau,  and  others,  during  the  last 
twenty  years,  and  leave  the  traditions  of  the  Latin  and 
Greek  churches  almost  out  of  the  question  altogether. 
Their  researches  have  settled  nearly  all  the  topographical 
questions  connected  with  ancient  Jerusalem,  which  had  pre¬ 
viously  been  the  subject  of  so  much  controversy  and  error, 
the  doubts  and  difficulties  connected  with  them  arising  from 
the  fact  that  the  city  had  been  more  or  less  destroyed  and 
built  over  so  many  times  that  the  original  foundations  of  its 
walls  and  Temple  could  only  be  determined  by  extensive  and 
laborious  excavations;  and  in  the  course  of  these  many  col¬ 
lateral  discoveries  were  made. 

We  learn  from  the  publications  of  the  Palestine  Explora- 


304 


HAIFA . 


tion  Fund  that  these  excavations  were  carried  on  under  dif¬ 
ficulties  of  every  kind,  in  face  of  the  opposition  of  the  local 
government  and  in  spite  of  continued  fevers  and  lack  of 
funds.  The  mines  were  driven  to  extraordinary  depths;  one 
at  the  southeast  angle  of  the  Idaram  being  eighty  feet  deep, 
and  another,  near  the  northeast  angle,  being  one  hundred 
and  twenty  feet  beneath  the  surface,  where  it  reaches  the 
solid  rock.  In  consequence  of  the  great  depths,  the  scarcity 
of  the  mining  frames,  and  the  treacherous  character  of  the 
debris  through  which  the  shafts  and  galleries  were  driven, 
the  work  was  one  of  unusual  danger  and  difficulty,  requiring 
much  courage  and  determination.  Sir  Charles  Warren  and 
the  non-commissioned  officers  of  his  staff  worked  constantly 
with  their  lives  in  their  hands,  and  often  undertook  opera¬ 
tions  from  which  the  native  workmen  recoiled.  The  pru¬ 
dence  and  discipline  of  the  party,  however,  secured  valuable 
discoveries  without  an  accident;  and  it  is  generally  acknowl¬ 
edged  that  the  results  are  of  an  importance  which  fully  re¬ 
pays  the  labor  and  difficulty  of  the  operations. 

Sir  Charles  Warren  was  the  officer  who  so  courageously 
entered  the  desert  of  Sinai  after  the  late  Egyptian  war,  when 
he  succeeded  in  capturing  the  murderers  of  Professor  Pal¬ 
mer,  Captain  Gill,  and  Lieutenant  Sharrington,  and  bringing 
them  to  justice.  The  result  of  his  labors  in  Jerusalem,  and 
that  of  his  fellow-explorers,  is  a  magnificent  atlas,  published 
last  year  by  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  containing  a 
most  elaborate  series  of  maps,  plans,  elevations,  and  engrav¬ 
ings,  which  reproduce  the  sacred  city  in  all  its  most  striking 
features,  accompanied  by  a  handsome  volume  of  descriptive 
matter.  We  are  thus  able  to  base  an  account  of  the  ancient 
topography  of  the  city  on  data  more  exact  than  any  pre¬ 
viously  acquired,  and  to  read  the  ancient  historic  accounts 
by  the  light  of  ascertained  facts,  instead  of  guessing  at 
probabilities  by  the  aid  of  descriptions,  which,  however  care¬ 
fully  written,  are  still,  as  all  descriptions  must  be,  vague 
where  the  student  requires  most  exactitude,  and  deficient 
where  he  most  wishes  for  details. 

With  the  assistance  of  these  publications  a  guide-book 
might  be  compiled  which  would  enable  the  tourist  to  order 
his  dragoman  to  take  him  straight  to  the  places  worth  see- 


TRADITIONAL  SITES  AT  JERUSALEM. 


305 


ing,  instead  of — following  on  the  track  of  exploded  tradition 
— going  with  him  like  a  sheep  to  those  that  are  not.  Much 
could  be  done  to  clear  away  existing  confusion  and  prevent 
the  perpetuation  of  error  by  a  change  in  the  received  nomen¬ 
clature,  whereby  things  should  be  called  by  their  right  names 
so  far  as  they  are  known,  instead  of  by  misleading  appella¬ 
tions,  derived  from  the  records  of  early  pilgrims  or  the  later 
crusaders.  I  will  take  a  few  examples  as  illustrations.  Not 
far  from  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  the  guide  shows 
the  traveller  an  immense  reservoir,  now  being  filled  up.  This, 
he  says,  is  the  Pool  of  Betbesda,  but  it  has  only  been  thus 
designated  since  the  fourteenth  century.  In  the  twelfth 
this  pool  was  supposed  to  be  a  cistern  near  the  Church  of 
St.  Anne,  and  in  the  fourth  the  site  of  Betliesda  was  shown 
at  the  twin  pools,  northwest  of  Antonia.  The  fact  is  that 
there  are  only  two  sites  which  may  be  regarded  as  possible 
for  Betbesda,  one  being  the  spring  of  En-Rogel,  which  has 
an  intermittent  ebb  and  flow,  and  which  is  still  frequented 
by  the  Jews,  who  bathe  in  it  to  cure  various  diseases.  The 
other  is  the  curious  well  immediately  west  of  the  Temple 
enclosure,  now  called  Hamman  Esh-Shefa,  or  the  Healing 
Spring,  a  long  reservoir  reached  by  a  shaft  nearly  one  hun¬ 
dred  feet  deep.  None  of  the  pools  which  have  at  various 
times  been  selected  by  tradition  have  any  supply  of  living 
water,  and  none  can  well  be  supposed  to  have  any  intermit¬ 
tent  rise  and  fall,  such  as  we  understand  by  the  moving  of 
the  waters. 

Acrain,  take  the  tombs  of  Absalom  and  St.  James.  There 
is  nothing  whatever  to  connect  the  first  with  Absalom.  The 

•ZZj 

singular  style  of  its  architecture  shows  that  it  cannot  be  the 
pillar  “Absalom  reared  up  for  himself  during  his  lifetime  in 
the  king’s  dale.”  M.  Clermont  Ganneau  has  made  excava¬ 
tions  uncovering  the  bases  and  pedestals  of  the  columns,  all 
of  which  are  purely  Greek.  Indeed,  it  is  only  since  the 
twelfth  century  that  it  was  called  the  tomb  of  Absalom  at 
all.  The  author  of  the  Jerusalem  Itinerary  calls  it  the  tomb 
of  Ilezekiah,  and  Adamanus,  in  the  seventh  century,  calls  it 
the  tomb  of  Jehoshaphat.  It  is  possibly  the  monument  of 
Alexander  Jannieus  .spoken  of  by  Josephus.  So,  too,  the 
tomb  of  St.  James  has  nothing  to  do  with  St.  James;  for 
20 


306 


HAIFA. 


there  lias  lately  been  discovered  on  the  fa9ade  an  inscription 
in  square  Hebrew  in  so  inaccessible  a  position  as  to  have 
been  only  probably  cut  before  the  facade  was  completed, 
which  mentions  that  the  family  of  the  Beni  Hezir  are  buried 
there.  This  family  of  priests  is  mentioned  in  the  Bible 
(1  Chron.  xxiv.  15).  The  inscription  seems  to  date  from 
the  first  century  before  Christ, 

The  so-called  tomb  of  David  is  a  vault  over  which  has 
been  built  a  room,  called  the  chamber  in  which  the  Feast  of 
the  Passover  prior  to  the  crucifixion  is  supposed  to  have 
taken  place.  Close  to  it  is  the  Palace  of  Caiaphas,  and  in  it 
is  shown  the  spot  where  Peter  stood  when  he  denied  his 
Master.  Near  it  is  the  rock  upon  which  the  cock  roosted  when 
he  crew.  The  “rock,”  the  “spot,”  the  “palace,”  the  “Cae- 
naculum,”  and  the  “tomb”  all  rest  upon  equally  invalid  au¬ 
thority.  As  regards  the  tomb  of  David,  we  know  that  it  was 
within  the  walls,  together  with  those  of  eight  other  Jewish 
kings.  That  the  place  was  apparently  well  known  as  late  as 
the  time  of  Christ  we  gather  both  from  the  Acts  and 
Josephus.  It  is  remarkable  that  one  undisputed  Jewish 
tomb  still  exists  in  such  a  position  as  to  have  been  certainly 
within  the  city  of  David.  This  is  the  so-called  tomb  of 
Nicodemus,  and  it  is  yet  more  remarkable  that  in  its  original 
condition,  before  it  was  partly  destroyed,  this  tomb  must 
have  been  just  made  to  contain  nine  bodies,  placed  in  kokim, 
or  graves  cut  according  to  the  oldest  arrangement  employed 
by  the  Jews.  Josephus  mentions  as  a  peculiarity  of  the 
tombs  of  the  kin<rs  that  some  of  the  coffins  were  buried  be- 
neath  the  surface,  so  as  to  be  unseen  even  to  those  standing 
within  the  monument.  Just  such  an  arrangement  exists  in 
the  tomb  under  consideration,  the  floor  of  which  is  sunk  so 
that  the  graves  on  one  side  are  on  a  lower  tier.  It  seems, 
therefore,  quite  possible  that  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepul¬ 
chre  preserves  the  monument  of  the  nine  chief  kings  of 
Jerusalem.  Of  course,  tradition,  with  its  usual  ignorance, 
places  “the  tombs  of  the  kings”  on  the  hill  of  the  upper 
city,  where  your  guide  takes  you  to  see  them,  and  where 
there  are  no  ancient  tombs  at  all,  the  tombs  there  being  of 
a  date  not  earlier  than  the  first  century  before  Christ.  A 
fine  sarcophagus,  with  an  Aramaic  inscription,  stating  that 


TRADITIONAL  SITES  AT  JERUSALEM. 


307 


it  held  the  body  of  a  certain  Queen  Sara,  was  discovered  in 
them.  Though  called  by  a  wrong  name,  they  are,  never¬ 
theless,  well  worth  visiting.  As  it  is  supposed  by  some  au¬ 
thorities  that  Helena,  Queen  of  Adiabene,  was  also  buried 
here,  they  might  more  properly  be  called  the  tombs  of  the 
queens. 

But  the  really  great  work  which  recent  investigation  has 
accomplished  has  mainly  reference,  not  so  much  to  such  de¬ 
tails  as  these,  which  must  always  remain  more  or  less  matters 
of  speculation,  as  to  the  settlement  of  controversies  affect¬ 
ing  the  topographical  questions  connected  with  ancient  Jeru¬ 
salem.  First,  in  regard  to  points  upon  which  all  are  now 
agreed.  There  is  no  doubt  about  the  Mount  of  Olives  and 
the  brook  Kedron.  It  is  agreed  that  the  Temple  stood  on 
the  spur  immediately  west  of  the  Kedron,  and  that  the 
southern  tongue  of  this  spur  was  called  Opliel.  It  is  also 
agreed  that  the  flat  valley  west  of  this  spur  is  that  to  which 
Josephus  applies  the  name  Tyropsean,  though  there  was  a 
diversity  as  to  the  exact  course  of  the  valley,  which  has  now 
been  set  at  rest  by  the  collection  of  the  rock  levels  within 
the  city.  It  is  also  agreed  by  all  authorities  that  the  high 
southwestern  hill,  to  which  the  name  of  Sion  has  been  ap¬ 
plied  since  the  fourth  century,  is  that  which  Josephus  calls 
the  upper  city,  or  upper  Market  Place.  The  site  of  the 
Pool  of  Siloam  is  also  undisputed,  and  certain  natural  feat¬ 
ures  have  been  determined,  which  serve  as  data  on  which  to 
construct  the  walls  of  the  ancient  city  and  fix  the  site  and 
area  of  the  Temple  enclosure  in  the  time  of  Herod.  There 
is  still  some  controversy  in  regard  to  the  exact  position  and 
course  of  the  city  walls  prior  to  its  destruction  by  Titus,  but 
this  is  chiefly  maintained  by  those  who  are  fatally  affected 
in  their  religious  sentiments.  There  is  also  a  difference  of 
opinion  in  regard  to  the  area  of  the  Temple  building.  Prac¬ 
tically,  however,  this  point  has  been  settled  by  the  great 
weight  of  authority  on  one  side,  which  affirms  that  the  pres¬ 
ent  Haram  enclosure,  in  which  are  situated  the  mosque  of 
Omar,  and  the  sacred  stone,  represent  the  area  of  Herod’s 
Temple,  only  one  or  two  standing  out  for  a  restriction  of 
this  area.  If  the  Turkish  government  would  only  allow  ex¬ 
plorations  to  be  made  under  the  platform  of  the  dome  of  the 


308 


HAIFA. 


rock,  the  very  rock  upon  which  Abraham  is  supposed  to  have 
been  ordered  to  sacrifice  Isaac,  and  if  the  examination  of  the 
closed  chambers  known  to  exist  on  the  north  and  east  sides 
of  this  platform  could  be  carried  out,  the  controversy  might 
be  set  at  rest  by  actual  discovery.  Of  the  Temple  of  Solo¬ 
mon  little  is  known,  though  it  is  possible  that  the  great 
scarps  in  the  present  British  cemetery  may  be  as  old  as  the 
time  of  David,  or  the  eleventh  century  before  Christ.  They 
are,  without  doubt,  the  oldest  existing  remains  in  Jerusalem, 
and  formed  part  of  the  ramparts  of  the  upper  city.  Mean¬ 
time,  the  most  interesting  spot  which  it  contains,  whether 
for  Jew,  Christian,  or  Mohammedan,  is  that  mysterious 
dome  of  the  rock,  with  its  gorgeous  mosque  covering  the 
sacred  stone,  which  Christ  himself  must  have  regarded  with 
as  much  veneration  in  his  day  as  the  adherents  of  the  two 
other  religions,  so  widely  oj>posed  to  the  one  of  which  he 
was  the  founder,  do  now. 


§ 


PROGRESS  IN  JERUSALEM. 


Haifa,  August  10. — There  is  probably  no  city  in  the  do¬ 
minions  of  the  sultan  which  has  undergone  more  change  dur- 
ing  the  last  few  years  than  Jerusalem,  and  as  any  change 
which  implies  progress,  implies  also  the  increase  of  foreign 
influence,  and  is  always  viewed  with  suspicion  by  the  Porte, 
the  march  of  events  in  Palestine  is  watched  by  Turkish 
statesmen  with  a  jealousy  which  finds  its  expression  in  a 
persistent  effort  to  oppose  it.  As,  however,  the  basis  of  the 
movement  to  which  Jerusalem  owes  its  increase  during  re¬ 
cent  years  is  a  religious  one,  and  is  founded  upon  a  senti¬ 
ment  which  proverbially  thrives  by  opposition,  all  efforts  to 
retard  the  influx  of  population  and  capital  into  the  Holy 
City  have  proved  unavailing.  Owing  to  increased  facilities 
of  travel,  the  pilgrimages  both  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
churches  have  been  more  numerous.  A  new  feature  is  that 
some  of  the  richer  pilgrims  from  time  to  time  establish  them¬ 
selves  here.  This  is  especially  the  case  with  the  Russian 
members  of  the  Greek  Church.  The  influx  of  Jews  has  also 
been  increasing  to  a  remarkable  extent.  The  Protestant 
sects  are  constantly  enlarging  the  field  of  their  operations, 
and  new  charitable  and  educational  establishments  are 
springing  up  from  year  to  year.  An  American  society  of 
Second  Adventists  has  been  resident  here  for  some  years, 
while  isolated  religious  cranks  find  in  the  Holy  City  an  ap¬ 
propriate  dwelling-place,  for  reasons  known  only  to  them¬ 
selves. 

The  result  of  all  this  is  that  whereas  when  I  was  last 
here,  six  years  ago,  only  a  very  few  houses  had  been  built 
on  the  Jaffa  road  outside  the  walls  of  the  town,  now  there  is 
an  extensive  and  constantly  increasing  Frank  suburb.  The 
price  of  land  has  risen  fifty  per  cent.,  and  is  still  constantly 
rising.  New  hotels  and  shops  have  been  opened  to  meet 


310 


HAIFA. 


the  increasing  demand.  Within  the  last  twenty  years  the 
population  of  the  Holy  City  has  certainly  doubled,  the  in¬ 
crease  consisting  entirely  of  Jews  and  Christians.  Apart 
from  its  sacred  associations  the  city  lias  no  attractions  as  a 
residence  of  any  kind,  but  quite  the  reverse.  This  fact  pos¬ 
sesses  a  highly  important  political  significance,  because  it  is 
evident  that  in  the  degree  in  which  the  vested  interests  of 
rival  sects  and  religions  accumulate  upon  this  spot  is  it 
destined  some  day  to  become  a  bone  of  contention  between 
them.  It  is  probably  the  only  city  in  the  world  where  the 
same  amount  of  capital  and  enterprise  is  expended  on  objects 
which  are  in  no  sense  remunerative,  while  in  proportion  to  its 
size  there  is  none  where  a  larger  sum  is  annually  given  away, 
either  in  the  form  of  charitable  or  religious  donations. 
Nothing  strikes  one  more  than  the  proportion  of  buildings 
having  some  sort  of  public  character  or  other  to  private 
dwellings,  and  these  buildings  are  constantly  increasing. 
This  year  the  estimated  expenditure  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
churches  will  be  over  $600,000  for  building  purposes  alone. 
The  number  of  Russian  pilgrims  who  visit  Jerusalem  annual¬ 
ly  is  about  five  thousand,  and  it  is  constantly  increasing. 
They  are  all  accommodated  in  the  extensive  premises  be» 
longing  to  the  Russian  government,  in  the  centre  of  which 
the  Russian  consulate  is  situated,  and  which  forms  a  sort  of 
Russian  suburb  to  the  Holy  City.  Here  one  feels  trans¬ 
ported  for  the  time  to  the  dominions  of  the  czar,  as  he  hears 
on  all  sides  the  Slav  tongue,  and  finds  himself  jostled  by 
men  and  women  in  the  peasant  costume  of  their  own  country, 
chaffering  over  wares  which  the  more  enterprising  of  their 
number  have  imported  to  sell  to  their  own  country  people, 
while  they  squat  in  stalls  and  booths  which  they  have  rough¬ 
ly  extemporized  for  the  purpose. 

When  you  consider  the  amount  of  foreign  money  which 
is  annually  expended  in  Jerusalem  by  these  hosts  of  pilgrims 
— those  of  the  Latin  Church,  however,  do  not  equal  in  num¬ 
ber  those  of  the  Greek — by  the  tourists  and  general  influx 
of  sightseers  who  flock  here  during  Easter  week,  and  by  the 
churches  and  societies  in  building  operations,  you  cannot 
wonder  that  many  persons  have  of  late  years  become  wealthy, 
and  that  many  natives  of  Syria  and  the  Levant  are  attracted 


PROGRESS  IK  JERUSALEM. 


Oil 


to  the  town  in  the  hope  of  becoming  so.  The  tide  having 
thus  set  in,  it  goes  on  increasing,  and  the  rivalry  of  the  Lat¬ 
in  and  Greek  churches  imparts,  as  it  were,  a  stimulus  to  the 
whole  jumble  of  creeds  and  nationalities  which  cluster  round 
the  sacred  shrines. 

Among  the  latest  and  most  interesting  arrivals  are  a  num¬ 
ber  of  Jews  from  Yemen.  Hitherto  these  little -known 
people  had  only  been  heard  of,  or  at  most  seen,  by  one  or 
two  enterprising  travellers  who  have  penetrated  from  Aden 
into  the  southern  deserts  of  Arabia  Felix.  I  was  told  that 
they  consider  themselves  as  belonging  to  the  tribe  of  Dan. 
They  have  lately  arrived  as  refugees  in  Jerusalem  from 
Yemen,  where  they  have  suffered  great  misery  during  the 
recent  wars  between  the  Arab  tribes  which  inhabit  that  prov¬ 
ince  and  the  Turkish  troops.  Finding  themselves  ultimately 
reduced  to  starvation  by  the  plunder  of  which  they  were  the 
victims  from  both  sides,  they  determined  to  seek  shelter  in 
the  Floly  City,  where  they  arrived  in  rags  in  a  starving  and 
destitute  condition.  They  have  since  been  provided  for  by 
subscriptions  among  their  co-religionists  raised  in  Europe.  I 
met  some  of  them  one  afternoon,  down  at  the  Place  of  Wail¬ 
ing,  and  was  much  struck  by  the  mild  and  gentle  expression 
of  their  countenances.  They  are  reputed  to  be  well  versed 
in  their  own  religious  lore,  and  to  be  devout  without  being 
hypocritical,  which  is  more  than  can  be  said  for  Palestinian 
Jews  generally.  Although  they  were  themselves  engaged 
in  sedentary  and  commercial  pursuits  in  Sana  and  other 
towns  in  the  fertile  oases  of  southern  Arabia,  they  report 
that  among  the  nomads  of  these  deserts  are  wandering  tribes 
in  no  wise,  so  far  as  their  external  appearance  goes,  to  be 
distinguished  from  Arabs,  but  who  are  nevertheless  purely 
Jewish. 

I  also  met  while  in  Jerusalem  a  black  Jew  from  Cochin  in 
India,  where  Jews  have  been  established  from  time  imme¬ 
morial,  but  he  seemed  somewhat  vague  as  to  his  ancestry. 

Amonsr  all  these  different  nationalities  and  sects,  which  as 
a  rule  hold  each  other  in  holy  abhorrence,  it  is  singular  that 
they  all  have  one  view  in  common,  or  rather,  perhaps,  it 
should  be  said  that  they  all  seem  to  labour  under  one  im¬ 
pression,  or  presentiment,  and  that  is  that  before  very  long 


312 


HAIFA. 


the  Holy  City  will  undergo  a  change  of  some  sort.  The 
nature  of  this  change  naturally  takes  the  form  peculiar  to 
the  national  or  religious  tendency  of  thought.  With  the 
Russians  and  French  it  is  reduced  to  a  very  simple  political 
expression,  which  may  be  summed  up  in  the  word  annexa¬ 
tion.  Th  is  idea  is  more  firmly  fixed  among  the  Russians 
than  the  French.  Indeed,  the  Holy  City  plays  a  greater 
part  in  the  Greek  religion  than  it  does  in  the  Latin,  and  the 
affections  of  the  orthodox  are  centred  on  these  shrines  to  a 
degree  unknown  among  Christians  of  any  other  denomina¬ 
tion.  There  is  hardly  a  village  in  Russia  in  which  there  is 
not  to  be  found  a  bottle  of  Jordan  water,  and  the  devotional 
instincts  of  the  peasantry,  which  are  very  strong,  are  directed 
by  the  Church,  which  is  in  Russia  synonymous  with  the  gov¬ 
ernment,  upon  the  holy  places  in  Palestine,  as  shrines  which 
have  a  spiritual  value  not  recognized  by  other  churches  to 
the  same  extent,  and  which,  therefore,  when  the  day  comes, 
should  entitle  it  to  their  temporal  and  territorial  proprietor¬ 
ship.  In  other  words,  there  is  not  a  Russian  pilgrim  who 
visits  Jerusalem  who  does  not  hope  that  he  may  live  to  see 
the  day  when  it  will  become  a  Russian  city,  and  who  does 
not  long  for  the  call  to  a  holy  war,  the  object  of  which 
should  be  the  exclusive  possession  by  Russia  of  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  and  of  the  city  in  which  it  stands.* 

In  France  there  is  no  such  religious  enthusiasm,  except 
with  a  section  of  society,  and,  although  the  conquest  of  Syria 


*  Russia  in  Palestine.  —  The  St.  Petersburg  correspondent  of  the  Daily 
News  says,  “  In  Palestine,  the  orthodox  religion  and  Russian  influence  seem 
to  be  increasing.  Some  days  ago  ‘  The  Orthodox  Palestine  Society  ’  celebrated 
its  anniversary.  It  was  made  known  on  this  occasion  that  the  society — which 
is  protected  by  the  government,  and  which  has  one  of  the  emperor’s  uncles, 
the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas  Nicolaievitch,  as  president — numbers  already  six 
hundred  and  fifteen  members,  and  that  its  reserve  capital  amounts  to  about 
90,000  roubles.  The  society  has  constructed  a  church  at  Nazareth,  is  con¬ 
structing  a  church  at  Mudshile,  and  has  bought  a  piece  of  ground  at  Jerusa¬ 
lem.  The  leaders  of  the  Palestine  Society  assert  that  their  researches  have 
proved  in  ‘  the  most  indubitable  ’  manner  that  Christ,  on  his  way  to  Golgotha, 
‘passed  just  over  the  ground  which  has  been  bought  by  the  society.’  One  of 
the  society’s  tasks  is  to  facilitate  Russian  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land.  The 
emperor  has  recently  given  his  sanction  to  the  establishment  of  branches  of 
this  society  in  all  cities  of  the  Russian  Empire.” 


PROGRESS  IN  JERUSALEM. 


313 


and  Palestine  enters  into  the  programme  of  the  government, 
and  their  religious  protectorate  over  the  Latin  Church  and 
its  interests  gives  them  a  strong  point  of  departure,  it  is 
weakened  by  the  fact  that  the  government  is  professedly 
anti-Catholic,  and  that,  even  were  it  not  so,  the  sentiment 
for  the  holy  places  is  not  so  strong  among  the  Latins  as 
among  the  Greeks.  With  the  Protestants  there  is  a  large 
class  who  base  their  belief  in  an  immediately  pending  altera¬ 
tion  in  the  political  conditions  under  which  Jerusalem  now 
exists,  upon  their  interpretation  of  prophecy.  They  profess 
to  find  it  clearly  indicated  in  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  Revelations, 
and  elsewhere  in  the  Bible,  that  the  protectorate  of  Pales¬ 
tine  is  to  be  vested  in  England.  Among  the  Jews  there  are 
many  also,  though  they  interpret  the  prophetic  writings  in 
a  totally  different  sense,  who  believe  that  the  fulfilment  of 
the  prophecy  which  is  to  restore  to  them  their  ancient  coun¬ 
try,  with  its  sacred  city,  is  at  hand,  and  all  Moslem  tradition 
points  to  the  present  time  as  one  critical  to  the  fortunes  of 
Islam,  with  which  the  fate  of  Jerusalem,  which  is  to  them 
also  a  holy  city,  is  inextricably  interwoven. 

Whether  we  have  any  sympathy  with  any  of  these  views 
or  not,  the  mere  fact  that  so  many  nations  and  races  of  di¬ 
verse  religions,  from  one  point  of  view  or  another,  centre  their 
political  and  religious  aspirations  upon  this  spot,  makes  it 
the  most  interesting  city  upon  the  earth’s  surface,  because 
there  is  none  other  which,  when  its  possession  comes  to  be 
disputed,  will  excite  such  powerful  or  such  conflicting  ambi¬ 
tions,  superstitions,  and  passions.  These  considerations  be¬ 
come  doubly  interesting  when  we  connect  them  with  the 
events  which  are  now  transpiring  in  the  East. 

One  day  while  I  was  in  Jerusalem  the  huge  bell  which  I 
had  seen  dragged  by  Russian  pilgrims  along  the  road  from 
Jaffa  arrived.  It  was  destined  for  a  new  Russian  church 
which  has  lately  been  built  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives. 
Anxious  to  witness  the  ceremony  of  its  reception,  I  set  out 
for  the  Mount  and  reached  the  summit  just  in  time  to  see 
the  bronze  monster,  ivhich  I  calculated  weighed  about  eight 
tons,  arrive  at  its  destination.  A  large  crowd  of  Russian 
men  and  women,  headed  by  two  priests  of  the  Greek  Church 
in  full  canonicals,  and  chanting  sacred  songs,  were  dragging 


314 


HAIFA. 


it  to  the  platform  from  which  it  was  to  be  finally  elevated 
into  the  belfry  prepared  for  it.  When,  after  much  pulling 
and  hauling,  it  was  at  last  placed  upon  the  platform,  a  sol¬ 
emn  religious  service  took  place.  Every  individual  man  and 
woman  in  the  crowd  pressed  forward  to  kiss  the  uplifted 
crucifix  which  the  priest  presented  for  their  adoration,  cross¬ 
ing  and  prostrating  themselves,  and  crowding  also  around 
the  bell  to  kiss  the  various  sacred  groups  of  figures  repre¬ 
sented  upon  it  in  basso-rilievo.  At  last,  after  a  final  melodi¬ 
ous  chant  in  which  all  joined  with  great  earnestness,  the 
officiating  priest  gave  the  signal  for  three  cheers,  which 
was  responded  to  with  heartiness,  and  the  ceremony  was 
over. 

I  now  went  to  examine  the  interior  of  the  new  church 
which  it  was  intended  to  decorate,  and  was  glad  to  find  that 
the  accident  which  had  led  me  to  come  here  to  witness  the 
arrival  of  the  bell  was  the  means  of  introducing  me  to  a  new 
and  interesting  discovery  of  recent  date.  The  Russians,  in 
excavating  for  the  foundations  of  their  new  church,  came 
upon  the  pavement  and  other  remains  of  an  ancient  building, 
which  they  have  been  careful  to  preserve.  Many  of  the  most 
interesting  objects  found  are  placed  in  a  cabinet.  In  the  hall 
of  the  priest’s  house  adjoining  the  church  is  a  beautiful  tes¬ 
sellated  pavement,  representing  animals,  fish,  apples,  and 
geometrical  patterns,  with  an  inscription  in  Armenian  formed 
of  colored  tessera?.  East  of  the  gate  into  the  garden,  and 
close  to  the  house,  is  a  rock-cut  chamber,  with  a  vault  of 
modern  masonry.  It  measures  about  twenty-four  feet  by 
fourteen,  and  contains  sixteen  sarcophagi,  arranged  in  groups 
of  four,  with  a  passage  between.  These  were  closed  by  slabs, 
and  on  three  inscriptions  were  dimly  discernible.  North 
of  this  were  the  foundations  of  a  building,  apparently  a 
chapel,  with  a  tessellated  floor  and  a  row  of  piers  about  two 
feet  square.  Near  by  is  a  cave  with  a  modern  vaulted 
chamber,  and  an  iron  door  which  has  apparently  been  placed 
there  to  protect  a  long  inscription  in  old  Armenian  characters, 
formed  also  of  colored  tessera?,  but  I  have  no  means  of  know¬ 
ing  what  it  signifies.  Beneath  the  floor  of  the  house  are  said 
to  be  other  tombs,  which  can  be  reached  through  a  masonry 
trap-door.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  all  these  remains  belong 


PROGRESS  IE  JERUSALEM. 


315 


to  an  Armenian  mediaeval  monastery.  The  site,  which  has 
recently  been  acquired  by  the  Russians,  is  some  hundreds  of 
yards  distant  from  the  highest  part  of  Olivet,  where  the 
Latin  chapel  stands,  usually  visited  by  tourists  who  go  there 
to  see  Christ’s  footprint.  It  commands  a  magnificent  view, 
and  the  new  Russian  edifice  will  make  an  important  addition 
to  their  rapidly  growing  collection  of  sacred  buildings. 

Nothing  is  more  aggravating  to  the  members  of  either  the 
Greek  or  Latin  churches  than  to  find  the  rival  sect  in  solitary 
possession  of  a  holy  place.  It  is  the  immediate  signal  for 
the  purchase  of  another  site  as  near  as  possible  to  the  one 
already  occupied,  and  the  erection  upon  it  of  an  opposition 
building.  No  greater  piece  of  luck  can  befall  the  owner  of 
a  piece  of  land  than  to  stumble  upon  remains  which  show 
that  it  had  been  in  the  occupation  of  the  early  Christians. 
He  can  then  name  his  own  price,  and,  like  the  fortunate  pro¬ 
prietor  of  the  land  on  which  St.  Stephen’s  Church  is  now 
about  to  be  built  by  the  French,  may  get  a  thousand  napo¬ 
leons  for  what  he  had  a  very  short  while  before  only  paid 

fifty. 

Before  bidding  adieu  to  Jerusalem,  it  may  be  interesting 
to  my  readers  that  I  should  notice  some  of  the  more  impor¬ 
tant  discoveries  that  have  been  made  there  within  the  last 
year  or  two,  and  which  are  not,  therefore,  to  be  found  in 
any  guide-book.  For  many  of  the  details  I  am  indebted, 
to  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund  publications.  Among 
these  have  been  many  tombs,  some  of  them  of  much  inter¬ 
est,  but  none  equal  to  that  to  which  I  have  already  alluded, 
as  being  the  most  likely  of  any  which  have  yet  been  discov¬ 
ered,  to  be  the  tomb  of  Christ.  I  have  given  at  length  the 
reasons  in  a  former  letter  in  support  of  this  presumption. 
It  is  approached  by  a  court  cut  in  the  rock  seven  feet  square, 
and  two  stones  in  this  are  so  placed  as  to  give  the  idea  that 
they  may  have  held  in  place  a  rolling  stone  before  the  door. 
On  the  right  is  a  side  entrance  leading  into  a  chamber  with 
a  single  loculus,  and  thence  into  a  cave  eight  feet  by  ten. 
If,  instead  of  turning  into  this,  we  go  straight  on,  we  descend 
two  steps  into  a  chamber  six  feet  by  nine;  from  either  side 
wall,  and  in  the  back  wall  of  this  chamber,  are  three  low 
passages;  they  lead  into  three  other  small  chambers,  each 


316 


HAIFA. 


about  seven  feet  long  by  six  wide,  and  on  each  side  of  each 
are  stone  benches  on  which  bodies  could  be  placed,  with  a 
narrow  passage  between  them  ;  so  that,  in  fact,  the  whole 
tomb  could  contain  six  bodies.  Whether  it  be  the  real 
Holy  Sepulchre  or  not,  it  is  interesting  from  the  fact  that 
it  is  the  only  Jewish  tomb  that  has  ever  been  found  so  close 
to  the  ramparts  of  the  modern  city  on  the  north,  and  to  the 
spot  which  may,  with  comparative  certainty,  be  identified 
with  Calvary.  It  stands  not  very  far  distant  from  a  piece 
of  land  which  a  man  bought  a  year  or  so  ago  for  fifty  na¬ 
poleons.  On  beginning  to  excavate  for  the  foundations  of 
his  house  he  came  upon  some  tessellated  pavement,  carvings, 
and  all  the  evidences  of  remains  of  some  importance.  He 
lost  no  time  in  making  his  discovery  known,  and,  finding 
that  it  stood  upon  what  must  have  been  the  site  of  the  early 
Christian  Church  of  St.  Stephen,  to  commemorate  the  spot 
of  his  martyrdom,  the  Roman  Catholics  gave  the  man  a 
thousand  napoleons  for  his  land,  and  have  laid  bare  the  re¬ 
mains  with  a  view  to  building  another  church  over  them.  I 
examined  them  with  some  interest,  as  it  was  such  a  recent 
discovery,  though  the  historical  interest  only  dates  back  to 
the  year  a.d.  460,  when  it  was  built  by  ,  the  Empress  Eu- 
doxia.  The  crusaders  found  it  in  ruins,  since  which  time  it 
had  become  buried,  and  its  site  lost.  The  whole  plan  of  the 
church  can  now  be  distinctly  traced,  its  pavements  in  many 
places  remaining  perfect,  with  the  foundations  of  its  side 
walls,  fragments  of  columns,  etc.  The  two  most  interesting 
features  in  connection  with  it,  however,  are  a  slab  of  fine 
limestone  on  which  are  the  figures  of  the  twelve  apostles,  each 
surrounded  by  a  sort  of  canopy.  They  stand  six  each  side  of 
a  central  figure  of  a  throned  Christ.  The  figures  are  rather 
stiffly  drawn  and  have  long  robes;  although  they  were  very 
distinct  when  first  discovered,  instead  of  moving  the  slab 
under  shelter,  it  has  been  left  exposed  to  the  storms  of  win¬ 
ter;  the  result  is  that  the  outlines,  which  were  in  colour,  can 
now  scarcely  be  distinguished,  and  another  year  will  com¬ 
pletely  efface  them;  besides  this  there  is  an  inscription  which 
has  so  far  puzzled  experts,  though  it  is  in  Greek  characters, 
but  a  good  deal  of  it  is  effaced.  There  are  also  tombs  in  the 
vicinity,  but  though  rock-cut  they  are  evidently  Christian. 


PROGRESS  IN  JERUSALEM. 


317 


Recent  excavations  within  the  city  have  also  exposed  avast 
area,  depressed  considerably  below  the  present  level  of  the 
surface,  which  once  formed  the  extensive  establishment  of  the 
Knights  Hospitallers,  or  Knights  of  St.  John.  It  was  given 
some  time  ago  by  the  Turkish  government  to  the  Crown- 
Prince  of  Germany;  since  then  the  whole  place  has  been 
cleared  out  with  a  view  to  its  restoration  on  a  grand  scale, 
and  it  wdll  doubtless  form,  when  completed,  one  of  the  finest 
architectural  monuments  of  modern  date  in  Jerusalem.  Sev¬ 
eral  very  deep  and  finely-vaulted  cisterns,  with  arches  fifty 
feet  high,  have  been  brought  to  light,  besides  cloisters,  cor¬ 
ridors,  and  vaulted  chambers  hitherto  unknown.  Some  idea 
of  the  scale  of  the  establishment  which  these  celebrated 
knights  possessed  in  Jerusalem  may  be  gathered  from  the 
character  and  extent  of  the  ruins,  which  cover  an  area  of 
one  hundred  and  seventy  square  yards,  of  which  only  half, 
unfortunately,  belongs  to  the  German  government. 

But  the  latest  discovery,  which  has  excited  the  greatest 
interest,  is  that  of  the  inscription  in  the  tunnel  which  con¬ 
nects  the  Virsdn’s  Fount  with  the  Pool  of  Siloam.  The  ex- 

o 

ploration  of  this  tunnel,  which  is  about  six  hundred  yards 
long,  involved  great  danger  and  difficulty.  Colonel,  now 
Sir  Charles  Warren,  gives  a  most  graphic  picture  of  the 
horrors  of  his  experience.  For  some  distance  the  passage 
was  only  one  foot  four  inches  high,  and  as  there  was  one 
foot  of  water,  the  explorers,  who  were  crawling  on  their 
stomachs,  naked,  were  submerged  to  their  chins,  having  only 
four  inches  of  breathing-room,  with  the  additional  danger 
of  being  drowned  by  the  rising  of  the  waters,  which  does 
not  take  place  regularly.  Often  their  mouths  were  under 
water,  and  a  breath  of  air  could  only  be  obtained  by  twist¬ 
ing  their  faces  up.  To  keep  a  light  burning,  to  take  meas¬ 
urements,  and  make  observations  under  these  circumstances 
was  a  work  of  no  little  difficulty  ;  and  yet,  after  crawling 
through  mud  and  water  for  four  hours,  the  honour  of  finding 
the  inscription  was  reserved  for  a  naked  urchin  of  the  town, 
who,  some  years  after,  announced  he  had  seen  writing  on 
the  wall.  Whereupon  Professor  Sayce,  and  Ilerr  Schick, 
and  Doctor  Gutlie  plunge  naked  into  the  muddy  tunnel  with 
acid  solutions,  and  blotting-paper,  and  everything  necessary 


318 


HAIFA. 


to  make  squeezes,  and  emerge  skivering  and  triumphant  with 
the  most  interesting  Hebrew  inscription  that  has  ever  been 
found  in  Palestine,  about  which  pamphlets  and  articles  have 
been  written,  and  scholars  have  wrangled,  but  w^kich  is  now 
admitted  to  be  as  old  as  the  time  of  Solomon,  and  it  is 
agreed  on  all  hands  that  the  interpretation  thereof  is  as  fol¬ 
lows: 

“  Behold  the  excavation.  Now  this  is  the  history  of  the 
Tunnel.  While  the  excavators  were  still  lifting  up  the  Pick 
towards  each  other,  and  wdiile  there  were  yet  three  cubits 
to  be  broken  through,  the  voice  of  one  called  to  his  neigh¬ 
bour,  for  there  was  an  excess  in  the  rock  on  the  right.  They 
rose  up.  They  struck  on  the  west  of  the  excavation.  They 
struck,  each  to  meet  the  other,  pick  to  pick.  And  there 
flowed  the  waters  from  their  outlet  to  the  Pool,  for  a  thou¬ 
sand  two  hundred  cubits,  and  ...  of  a  cubit  was  the  height 
of  the  rock  over  the  heads  of  the  excavators.”  From  this 
it  will  appear  that  there  were  two  working-parties,  working 
from  opposite  ends,  and  the  indefatigable  explorers  have 
actually  discovered  the  spot  where  the  “  excess  ”  in  the 
rock  occurred  and  where  they  probably  met.  Most  people 
who  have  not  got  Palestine  exploration  on  the  brain  will, 
however,  be  content  to  take  their  word  for  it  without  going 
to  see  for  themselves.  Still  it  cannot  be  denied  that  an 
engineering  work,  executed  in  the  time  of  Solomon,  and  an 
inscription  describing  it,  is  of  the  greatest  interest.  The 
date  of  the  inscription  can  be  determined  with  tolerable 
accuracy  by  a  comparison  of  the  letters  with  those  on  the 
Moabite  stone  and  other  of  the  most  ancient  inscriptions 
known. 


THE  THREE  JERICHOS. 

Haifa,  Sept.  2. — The  signs  of  progress  to  which  I  have  al¬ 
luded  in  former  letters  as  being  manifest  in  Judea  are  not 
confined  to  J alfa  and  Jerusalem.  The  contemplated  carriage- 
road  to  Jericho  will  be  an  immense  boon  to  the  crowds  of 
pilgrims  who  flock  annually  to  the  Jordan.  The  first  evi¬ 
dence  of  activity  in  this  direction  was  at  the  Khan  el-Ahmah. 
Here  are  the  ruins  of  an  old  building.  Fragments  of  walls 
and  broken  arches  remain,  and  a  deep  well  indicates  that  in 
former  days  it  was  inhabited — probably  as  a  half-way  house 
of  entertainment.  Whether  this  be  so  or  not,  I  was  glad  to  see 
a  large  force  of  stone-masons  and  builders  actively  engaged, 
under  the  superintendence  of  a  European,  in  erecting  a  hand¬ 
some  khan  or  rest-house,  which,  considering  that  there  is  not 
at  present  a  single  habitation  between  Jerusalem  and  Jeri¬ 
cho,  with  the  exception  of  Bethany,  distant  only  two  miles 
from  the  former  city,  is  much  needed. 

This  place  has  always  had  an  evil  reputation  for  thieves 
since  the  days  when  the  Good  Samaritan  performed  his 
charitable  offices  to  the  plundered  and  beaten  wayfarer.  In¬ 
deed,  it  is  at  this  very  place  that  the  spot  is  shown  to  the 
credulous  pilgrim  where  the  incident  in  the  parable  is  said  to 
have  occurred,  and  the  guide-books  solemnly  warn  the  tourist 
that  he  must  be  careful  to  be  provided  with  an  escort,  be¬ 
cause  an  English  traveller,  Sir  Frederick  Henniker,  was  at¬ 
tacked  here  by  Bedouins,  stripped,  wounded,  and  left  for 
dead  in  1820.  This  is  imputing  stagnation  to  the  Turkish 
government  with  a  vengeance.  It  moves  slowly,  it  is  true, 
but  the  state  of  security  has  improved  somewhat  in  sixty- 
five  years.  Six  years  ago  I  rode  alone  with  a  friend  from 
Jericho  to  Jerusalem  with  no  thought  of  danger.  The 
Bedouins  find  it  to  their  interest  to  keep  up  the  traditions  of 
the  guide-books,  and  travellers  continue  to  pay  Bedouin 


320 


HAIFA. 


sheiks  blackmail  which  they  might  with  perfect  confidence 
keep  in  their  pockets.  I  consider  the  road  from  Jerusalem 
to  Jericho  in  the  present  day  as  safe  as  Broadway,  at  all 
events  in  the  daytime. 

It  might  not  be  safe  to  venture  along  it  quite  alone  at 
night,  but  the  same  might  be  said  of  roads  in  other  far  more 
civilized  countries.  Nevertheless,  the  road  in  places  is  so 
wild  and  desolate  that  it  may  well  appal  the  imagination  of 
the  timid  traveller,  notably  so  where  it  enters  the  Wady  Kelt, 
a  deep,  narrow  gorge,  flanked  by  precipitous  cliffs,  honey¬ 
combed  with  caverns,  above  which  rise  white  chalk  hills, 
presenting  a  tangled  network  of  narrow  water-worn  torrent 
beds  with  knife-like  ridges  between.  Hundreds  of  feet  below 
the  path  rushes  a  mountain  torrent,  which  is  none  other  than 
the  traditional  brook  Cheritt.  Here,  if  we  leave  the  regular 
track,  and  make  up  our  minds  to  follow  a  dizzy  path  cut  out 
of  the  precipitous  cliff,  which  winds  back  up  the  gorge,  soon 
disappearing  in  the  depth  of  its  gloomy  recesses,  we  plunge 
into  one  of  the  wildest  and  weirdest  scenes  that  the  ingenu¬ 
ity  of  nature  has  conceived  in  any  country,  so  fantastic  are 
the  crags  and  so  labyrinthine  the  gorges.  The  only  travel¬ 
lers  who  ever  thus  diverge  from  the  beaten  route  are  Rus¬ 
sian  pilgrims,  whose  devotional  instincts  lead  them  to  pay 
their  homage  to  every  accessible  shrine,  and  to  the  credit  of 
the  Greek  Church  it  must  be  said  that  it  has  contrived  to 
perch  shrines  on  spots  which  nature  only  intended  for  eagles. 

One  of  the  most  notable  of  these  is  the  monastery  which 
commemorates  the  cave,  to  which  the  path  we  are  now- 
following  will  lead  us,  in  which  Elijah  is  said  to  have  been 
fed  by  the  ravens.  The  monastery  is  literally  hung  on  to 
the  face  of  the  precipice,  and  consists  of  a  series  of  cells,  and 
a  hall  supported  on  vaults  through  which  lies  the  entrance. 
A  few  Greek  monks  live,  like  birds  perched  on  the  edge  of 
a  nest,  in  this  singular  abode,  to  which  a  chapel  pinnacled  on 
a  rock  is  attached,  dating,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  character 
of  the  masonry,  from  about  the  twelfth  century.  Perhaps 
the  little  side  chapel,  with  rock-cut  chambers,  and  the  vault 
containing  ancient  bones,  to  which  a  corridor  covered  with 
frescoes  representing  the  Last  Judgment  leads,  is  the  oldest 
part  of  these  buildings,  which  were  apparently  constructed 


THE  THREE  JERICHOS. 


321 


at  three  different  epochs,  as  two  layers  of  frescoes  cover  the 
wall,  while  the  newest  is  in  its  turn  covered  by  the  piers  sup¬ 
porting  the  ribs  of  the  roof.  Numerous  caves,  now  inacces¬ 
sible,  are  visible  in  the  face  of  the  cliff,  which  for  a  distance 
of  about  thirty  yards  is  covered  with  frescoes  now  almost 
defaced.  In  front  of  one  of  the  cells  is  a  heavy 
iron  bar,  from  which,  no  doubt,  in  former  days  a  ladder  de¬ 
pended,  the  only  means  of  access  when  these  caves,  now  al¬ 
most  deserted,  contained  quite  a  population  of  hermits.  This 
curious  place  is  well  worth  a  visit,  and  though  lying  so  close 
to  the  tourist’s  route,  I  have  not  seen  it  described  in  any 
guide-book. 

On  reaching  the  base  of  the  hills  where  the  Wady  Kelt 
debouches  into  the  Jordan  Valley,  we  find  ourselves  in  the 
immediate  presence  of  four  ancient  sites.  Three  of  these  are 
the  sites  of  three  different  Jerichos,  and  one  is  the  site  of 
Gilgal.  It  is  certain  that  the  Jewish,  the  Roman,  and  the 
Byzantine  Crusaders’  Jericho  occupied  three  different  posi¬ 
tions.  The  first  has  been  identified  with  tolerable  certaintv 

a/ 

as  havina;  existed  where  mounds  of  rubble  mark  its  site,  near 
the  spring  called  in  old  times  the  Fountain  of  Elijah,  and 
known  now  as  the  Ain  es-Sultan.  This  was  the  Jericho  of 
Joshua,  and  these  mounds  of  rubble  may  contain  the  debris 
of  the  identical  walls  which  fell  to  the  sound  of  his  trumpet. 
AVe  pitched  our  tents  at  the  beautiful  and  copious  spring 
which  must  have  supplied  the  old  town  with  water,  so  as  to 
have  an  opportunity  of  examining  the  neighbourhood  at  our 
leisure.  The  spring  comes  out  beneath  the  mound  on  the 
east,  and  has  on  the  west  a  wall  of  small  masonry  in  hard 
cement.  In  this  wall  there  is  a  small  semicircular  niche, 
probably  intended  to  hold  a  statue  of  the  genius  of  the  spring. 
The  reservoir  from  which  the  water  gushes  forth  is  about 


entirely 


twenty  by  forty  feet,  and,  though  shallow,  forms  a  delight¬ 
ful  bath,  with  temperature  slightly  tepid.  The  high  tumuli 
behind  had  been  excavated  by  Sir  Charles  Warren*  and  I  ex¬ 
amined  the  traces  of  his  cuttings.  The  mounds  are  formed 
for  the  most  part  of  a  light  yellow  clay,  which,  on  being 
touched,  crumbles  into  an  impalpable  powder.  In  some  cases 
no  strata  could  be  discerned  in  the  clay,  in  others,  layers  of 
brick,  stone,  and  mortar  were  clearly  visible.  In  another 


21 


322 


HAIFA. 


large  mound,  a  little  to  the  south,  graves  were  found  six  feet 
below  the  surface.  All  these  except  one  were  of  sun-dried 
brick.  Bones  appeared  to  have  been  thrown  into  these  after 
the  decomposition  of  the  bodies.  Altogether  Sir  Charles 
Warren  dug  trenches  through  no  fewer  than  eight  of  the 
mounds,  which  form  a  conspicuous  feature  in  the  plain  in 
which  the  ancient  cities  of  Jericho  were  situated,  as  they 
stand  to  a  height  of  about  sixty  feet  above  it;  and  the  re¬ 
sult  at  which  he  arrived  was  that  they  are  formed  by  the 
gradual  crumbling  away  of  great  towers  or  castles  of  sun¬ 
burned  brick.  Although  in  some  cases  shafts  were  sunk  to 
a  depth  of  forty  feet,  nothing  was  found  except  pottery  jars, 
stone  mortars  for  grinding  corn,  and  broken  glass.  In  one 
were  found,  eight  feet  below  the  surface,  the  remains  of  a 
large  amphora,  the  neck,  handles,  and  base  of  which  were  en¬ 
tire,  and  which  must  have  stood  about  five  feet  high.  Sir 
Charles  Warren’s  working  party  consisted  of  one  hundred 
and  seventy-four  men,  and  he  thoroughly  exhausted  the  sub¬ 
ject. 

Near  the  spring  is  a  ruin  which  may  have  been  that  of  a 
small  Roman  temple,  a  portion  of  an  aqueduct,  for  the  waters 
of  the  spring  evidently  irrigated  a  large  extent  of  the  plain, 
and  near  by  traces  of  ruins,  apparently  Byzantine.  Here  are 
pillar-shafts,  cornices,  capitals,  and  other  indications  of  a  city 
of  later  date  than  those  we  have  been  considering. 

The  site  of  the  Jericho  of  Herod,  which  existed  at  the 
time  of  Christ,  was  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wady  Kelt,  deriv¬ 
ing  its  water  supply  from  that  stream,  and  more  than  a  mile 
from  Ain  es-Sultan.  Here  there  are  the  remains  of  a  bridge, 
foundations  of  buildings  which  were  evidently  Roman  work, 
and  two  large  artificial  mounds,  in  one  of  which  was  found 
a  rectangular  chamber,  the  outer  wall  built  of  sun-dried 
bricks,  and  the  interior  of  undressed  stones  cemented  over. 

The  site  of  the  third,  or  Crusading  Jericho,  was  probably 
identical  with  that  on  which  the  modern  village  of  Jericho 
now  stands;  but  no  ruins  of  importance  remain  there,  though 
the  whole  surface  of  the  plain  between  the  sites  of  the  three 
J erichos  is  covered  with  remains  which  attest  the  denseness 
of  the  population  which  once  inhabited  it.  That  this  should 
once  have  been  a  large  inhabited  centre  must  ever  appear  an 


THE  THREE  JERICHOS. 


323 


astounding  fact  to  the  modern  traveller  who  has  suffered 
from  the  heat  of  the  plain.  Except  during  the  winter  months 
all  this  region  is  not  only  unbearably  hot,  but  most  insalu¬ 
brious.  The  very  Arabs  desert  it  for  the  hillsides.  It  is 
possible  that  neglect  and  inattention  to  irrigation  works 
may  make  the  climate  much  less  healthy  than  it  was  in 
former  times,  but  nothing  can  be  changed  in  the  matter  of 
temperature,  and  either  the  population  must  have  deserted 
it  for  the  mountains  during  summer  or  they  must  have  been 
far  better  able  to  bear  heat  than  their  degenerate  descendants. 
Sunk  nearly  twelve  hundred  feet  below  the  level  of  the  sea, 
and  shut  in  from  all  breeze  by  lofty  ranges  of  barren  moun¬ 
tains  on  both  sides,  Jericho  in  summer  must  be  one  of  the 
hottest  places  on  the  earth’s  surface.  Even  Jerusalem, 
which  is  four  thousand  feet  above  it,  is  pretty  warm.  On 
the  other  hand,  Josephus  vaunts  the  wonderful  fertility  of 
the  place,  and  calls  it  “  a  region  fit  for  the  gods.” 

Its  magnificent  and  extensive  palm  groves  were  celebrated, 
but  these  have  disappeared  since  the  eighth  century,  and  there 
is  only  one  date-tree  left.  Still  the  abundance  of  the  water, 
the  richness  of  the  soil,  and  the  warmth  of  the  climate,  won¬ 
derfully  adapt  it  to  the  growth  of  all  tropical  produce.  All 
kinds  of  vegetables  are  in  season  all  the  year  round.  Grapes, 
which  are  trellised  on  high  poles,  as  in  Italy,  grow  to  enor¬ 
mous  size;  indigo,  cotton,  and  sugar  would  all  flourish,  but 
there  are  no  people  to  cultivate  them. 

The  remains  of  the  old  aqueducts  testify  to  the  skilful 
manner  in  which  the  ancients  used  their  abundant  water 
supply  for  the  irrigation  of  this  extensive  plain.  I  counted 
altogether  nine  different  ancient  aqueducts.  One  or  two  of 
these  are  still  utilized,  and  of  late  years  a  handsome  bridge 
has  been  built  in  connection  with  one  of  them,  but  the  engi¬ 
neering  skill  of  the  ancients  holds  its  own  with  our  more 
modern  constructions.  Many  of  the  bridges  by  which  these 
aqueducts  span  the  ravines  are  very  handsome.  Some  are 
on  two  tiers  of  arches,  one  above  another.  In  places  they 
are  tunnelled  through  the  hills.  One  bridge  of  massive  ma¬ 
sonry  of  large  stones  is  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long 
and  thirty-five  feet  high,  with  pointed  arches.  There  is  one 
aqueduct  eight  miles  long,  consisting  of  a  cemented  channel 


324 


HAIFA. 


two  feet  broad,  and  terminating  in  a  handsome  cemented 
cistern.  It  is  carried  over  several  bridges,  one  fifty  feet  long 
and  thirty  feet  high. 

I  mention  this  system  of  aqueducts  because  I  have  never 
seen  any  account  of  Jericho  in  the  records  of  travellers  or 
in  guide-books  which  does  justice  to  them.  They  are  im¬ 
portant  as  showing  how  much  money  must  have  been  spent 
in  developing  the  resources  of  this  plain,  and  what  a  garden  it 
must  have  been  in  old  times.  So  late  as  the  thirteenth  century 
we  hear  that  the  sugar-cane  was  cultivated  around  Jericho, 
and  I  believe  that  at  this  day  there  are  few  spots  on  the 
earth’s  surface  which  could  be  turned  to  more  profitable  ac¬ 
count.  Here  all  the  products  of  the  tropics  could  be  raised 
without  having  to  go  to  the  tropics  for  them,  and  many 
fruits  could  be  conveyed  from  here  to  a  European  market, 
which  it  would  be  impossible  to  preserve  for  the  length  of 
time  which  is  now  required  to  transport  them  from  the  trop¬ 
ics.  At  a  comparatively  small  expense  the  ancient  system 
of  aqueducts  could  be  repaired  and  the  abundant  water  sup¬ 
ply  utilized,  which  is  now  left  to  stagnate  in  marshes  and 
breed  fever  and  pestilence.  It  is,  in  fact,  impossible  to  ap¬ 
preciate  the  magnificent  capabilities  which  this  plain  pos¬ 
sesses  and  not  feel  convinced  that  in  these  days  of  civilized 
enterprise  the  question  of  their  development  is  only  one  of 
time. 


JERICHO— A  HEW  WINTER  RESORT. 


Haifa,  Sept.  15. — When  I  last  visited  Jericho,  six  years 
ago,  it  consisted  of  a  miserable  village  of  mud  huts, 
containing  a  population  of  mixed  negroes  and  Bedouins, 
amounting  at  most  to  three  hundred  souls.  I  was  aston¬ 
ished  now  to  find  that,  of  all  places  in  the  world,  it  wTas 
going  ahead.  There  was  a  sort  of  boom  going  on;  a  very 
minute  boom,  it  is  true,  but  still  it  wTas  progress,  and  there 
is  no  saying  wThat  it  may  lead  to. 

It  is  due  entirely  to  the  Russians,  and  I  think  that  a  pro¬ 
gressive  Jericho,  owing  to  Russian  enterprise,  is  a  phenom¬ 
enon  vTorthy  of  remark.  Indirectly  it  may  be  attributed  to 
the  passion  Russian  pilgrims  have  for  bathing  in  the  Jordan 
and  carrying  away  bottles  full  of  the  water  of  that  sacred 
stream.  This  passion  for  holy  ablutions  is  one  which  a  wise 
and  far-seeing  government  has  turned  to  profitable  political 
account.  It  was  only  in  obedience  to  the  most  ordinary  in¬ 
stincts  of  humanity  that  some  sort  of  accommodation  should 
be  provided  for  the  pious  crowds,  consisting  largely  of  old 
and  frail  women,  wdio  trudge  thirty  miles  in  a  broiling  sun 
to  bathe  in  the  Jordan,  and  who  could  not  find  a  roof  to 
shelter  them,  or  a  place  in  which  to  be  fed,  until  they  got 
back  to  Jerusalem.  So  a  large,  handsome,  red-stone  building, 
not  unlike  a  state  lunatic  asylum,  has  been  erected  for  their 
accommodation  at  Jericho.  Here  not  only  the  Russian  pil¬ 
grim,  but  the  ordinary  travelling  lunatic,  can  find  first-class 
accommodation. 

The  protection  which  so  handsome  an  establishment  af¬ 
forded  was  all  that  was  required  to  give  a  start  to  the  place. 
Devout  Russians,  always  acting  under  the  auspices  of  a 
pious,  intelligent,  and  paternal  government,  are  beginning 
gradually  to  make  Jericho  a  place  of  winter  resort.  They 
build  little  cottages  there,  surround  them  writh  gardens 


326 


HAIFA. 


which  supply  them  with  most  delicious  fruit  and  vegetables, 
spend  their  summers  in  Jerusalem,  and  come  down  here  in 
the  winter  and  bathe  in  the  Jordan  to  their  hearts’  content. 
In  other  words,  in  a  religious  and  quite  unostentatious  way, 
Russia  is  quietly  colonizing  Jericho.  The  obnoxious  word 
colony,  so  hateful  to  Turkish  ears,  is  never  pronounced,  but 
I  counted  no  fewer  than  twelve  neat  little  whitewashed  cot¬ 
tages,  where  a  few  years  ago  there  was  not  one. 

One  of  my  travelling  companions,  who  was  an  English 
medical  man  of  some  eminence,  was  so  much  struck  with 
the  climatic  advantages  of  the  place  as  a  winter  resort  for 
consumptive  patients  that,  now  that  good  accommodation  is 
to  be  found  there,  he  has  decided  to  advise  invalids  to  try 
the  effects  of  its  air.  Hitherto  when  one  told  a  person  “to 
go  to  Jericho  ”  it  was  a  polite  way  of  intimating  to  him  that 
lie  might  go  somewhere  else,  Jericho  being  the  next  hottest 
place  known  to  that  more  distant  region;  but  now  we  may 
tell  our  friends  to  go  to  Jericho  in  a  spirit  of  benevolence,  in 
the  hope  that  it  may  restore  them  to  health.  What  an  un¬ 
bearable  place,  by  the  way,  Jericho  would  be  if  all  the  bores 
who  have  been  metaphorically  sent  there  had  literally  gone. 
As  it  is,  I  cannot  imagine  a  more  agreeable  place  for  a  per¬ 
son  not  absolutely  dependent  upon  society  to  go  to  and  spend 
a  month  or  two  in  winter.  ' 

There  is  a  peculiar  softness  and  balminess  in  the  air,  not 
to  be  found  elsewhere  in  the  world,  for  there  is  no  other 
place  in  the  world  eleven  hundred  feet  below  the  sea-line. 
There  is  a  wide,  level,  oi3en  plain  to  scamper  across  on  horse¬ 
back  in  all  directions;  there  are  thickets  of  tamarisk  and 
nebk  and  bamboo  swarming  with  wild  boar,  deer,  gazelle, 
and  other  animals,  some  of  them  not  to  be  found  elsewhere, 
to  delight  the  sportsman.  There  is  the  Jordan  handy,  with 
first-rate  fishing  to  satisfy  the  most  ardent  angler;  there  is 
the  Dead  Sea  to  bathe  in  and  boat  on  (only  there  are  no 
boats)  for  persons  whose  tastes  are  aquatic.  There  is  a  flora 
which  would  be  a  source  of  never-endino;  interest  to  the 
botanist,  for  it  is  peculiar  to  this  region  ;  and  the  same  re¬ 
mark  applies,  to  some  extent,  to  its  ornithology  and  ento¬ 
mology.  There  are  ancient  ruins  in  all  directions  to  satisfy 
the  most  inveterate  archaeologist,  while  the  explorer  has  only 


JERICHO— A  NEW  WINTER  RESORT. 


32V 


to  cross  the  Jordan,  and  in  a  few  hours  he  will  find  himself 
in  a  region  almost  untrodden  by  the  foot  of  the  tourist,  with 
all  manner  of  interesting  discoveries  awaiting  him.  Then 
he  is  still  comparatively  in  the  world,  for  a  smart  ride  of  five 
hours  will  take  him  back  to  Jerusalem,  and  he  need  not  be 
afraid  of  having  to  suffer  hardship,  for  the  fare  in  the  Rus¬ 
sian  hospice  is  reported  excellent,  especially  in  the  matter  of 
milk  and  vegetables.  My  advice,  then,  to  the  invalid,  the 
sportsman,  the  man  of  natural  history,  and  the  antiquarian, 
who  may  be  looking  out  for  a  new  winter  resort,  is,  “  Go  to 
Jericho  !”  There  is  no  particular  reason  that  I  can  see  why 
the  Russians  should  have  a  monopoly  of  this  charming  spot, 
though  we  should  be  very  much  obliged  to  them  for  making 
it  habitable.  No  doubt  when  the  partition  of  “the  sick 
man’s  ”  property,  for  which  they  have  been  waiting  so  long, 
takes  place,  they  will  put  in  a  claim  for  Jericho. 

Meantime  I  am  glad  to  see  that  the  government  seem  to 
be  put  upon  their  mettle.  Rot  only  have  they  built  a  hand¬ 
some  aqueduct  across  the  ravine  on  which  the  modern  vil¬ 
lage  stands,  but  they  have  cleared  a  large  expanse  of  the 
plain  on  the  other  side  with  a  view  of  bringing  it  into  cul¬ 
tivation  and  irrigating  it  by  means  of  the  said  aqueduct. 
This  plain  extends  in  an  unbroken  level  to  the  Dead  Sea, 
and  affords  a  pleasant  six-miles  scamper.  It  is  the  grazing- 
ground  generally  of  large  herds  of  camels,  and  on  a  hot 
and  thirsty  day  they  come  in  very  opportunely.  They  are 
ever-ready  if  not  ever-willing  fountains,  and  there  is  nothing 
more  refreshing  than  a  drink  of  warm  camels’  milk.  It  is 
not  easy  to  milk  them,  as  they  don’t  like  strangers,  and  one 
is  apt  to  get  charged  by  a  savage  mother  who  mistakes  one’s 
intentions.  Moreover,  it  requires  some  dexterity  to  milk  a 
camel  into  a  tumbler.  In  fact,  this  is  difficult  with  any 
animal.  I  have  had  a  battle  with  a  nanny-goat  on  a  bare 
Palestine  hillside  when  I  was  thirsty,  which  ended  in  my 
utter  discomfiture.  The  only  plan  is  to  backshish  the 
goatherd  or  camelherd.  It  is  an  odd  sight  to  see  a  young 
camel  tugging  away  at  one  side  of  its  mother  and  the  camel- 
herd  tugging  away  at  the  other,  and  the  resigned  old  female 
chewing  her  cud  between  them;  it  suggested  to  me  a  design 
for  a  picture  which  I  sent  to  an  artist  friend,  to  be  called 


328 


HAIFA. 


“  The  Rivals.”  With  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  burning  hills  of 
Moab  for  a  background,  I  think  it  would  make  rather  an 
effective  picture. 

However  often  I  might  visit  the  Dead  Sea,  I  would  always 
bathe  in  it,  in  spite  of  its  stickiness  afterwards.  The  sensa¬ 
tion  of  floating  without  the  slightest  effort  for  an  indefinite 
time  when  one  is  hot  and  tired  is  infinitely  soothing. 

The  government  intend  building  a  bridge  over  the  Jordan, 
and  on  my  way  back  from  visiting  its  proposed  site  I  passed 
the  much-disputed  position  of  Gilgal,  where  the  Israelites 
made  their  first  camp  in  the  Promised  Land.  This  has  but 
recently  been  identified  by  the  ever-to-be-lamented  Palestine 
explorer,  Mr.  Tyrwhitt  Drake,  who  fell  a  victim  to  his  zeal 
in  the  Jordan  valley.  Nothing  is  to  be  seen  there  now  but 
some  mounds,  in  which  have  been  found  pottery,  broken 
glass,  and  tesserae.  It  was  for  long  the  resting-place  of  the 
Ark  and  the  Tabernacle.  It  was  somewhere  on  this  plain 
that  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  “  the  Cities  of  the  Plain,”  were 
situated,  and  not  to  the  south  of  the  Dead  Sea,  as  was 
formerly  supposed,  but  their  sites  have  been  looked  for  in 
vain. 

The  great  events  of  which  the  plain  of  Jericho  had  in 
early  times  been  the  scene,  together  with  its  traditional  con¬ 
nection  with  the  temptation  of  Christ  on  the  Mount,  which 
rises  abruptly  behind  the  Spring  of  Ain-es-Sultan,  and  actual 
interest  with  regard  to  his  baptism  in  the  Jordan  and  other 
events,  attracted  the  Christians  of  a  very  early  age  to  this 
part  of  the  country.  Hence  from  Justinian’s  time  the  plain 
began  to  be  covered  with  monastic  edifices,  and  the  gorges 
and  precipices  of  the  enclosing  mountains  to  be  burrowed 
with  hermit’s  caves  and  sacred  shrines  and  chapels. 

There  is  a  tendency,  on  the  part  especially  of  the  Greek 
and  Armenian  churches,  to  reoccupy  some  of  these.  Certainly 
of  all  the  uncomfortable  and  dreary  and  broiling  monasteries 
I  ever  saw,  that  of  Kusr  Hajlah,  near  the  Dead  Sea,  now  in¬ 
habited  by  half  a  dozen  monks,  claims  pre-eminence.  It  is 
placed  just  on  the  edge  of  the  saline  plain,  which  exhales  in 
summer  a  pungent  heat  that  must  render  life  almost  insup¬ 
portable.  Nevertheless,  it  bears  all  the  marks  of  having 
been  an  important  mediaeval  monastery.  The  old  walls  still 


JERICHO— A  NEW  WINTER  RESORT. 


329 


exist  on  three  sides,  and  measure  about  forty  yards  by  sixty. 
These  contained  two  chapels  above  ground  and  one  beneath 
in  the  vaults.  The  walls  are  still  covered  with  frescoes,  the 
designs  of  which  are  distinctly  visible,  as  well  as  the  inscrip¬ 
tions  in  Greek  beneath  them.  They  are  evidently  of  Crusad¬ 
ing  times.  There  is  a  large  cistern  here,  thirty  feet  by  ten 
and  twenty-four  deep,  which  is  in  good  preservation.  So  is 
another  at  the  monastery  of  El-Yahud,  thirty  feet  deep,  with 
piers  and  arches  also  almost  pe'rfect.  This  monastery  is  dis¬ 
tant  about  half  an  hour  from  the  Jordan,  and  dates  from  the 
twelfth  century.  It  stands  on  the  site  of  one  which  wTas 
called  the  Monastery  of  St.  John  on  the  Jordan,  but  which 
was  destroyed  by  an  earthquake.  The  interest  attaching  to 
these  monasteries,  however,  is  comparatively  slight.  Upon 
archaeological  grounds  they  exhibit  no  very  striking  features, 
wrhile  from  a  religious  point  of  view  they  are  significant 
chiefly  as  showing  how  soon  the  religion  of  Christ  became 
degraded  into  a  system  of  useless  asceticism,  and,  consider¬ 
ing  the  tendency  which  is  exhibited  to  return  to  it,  the  lam¬ 
entable  reflection  is  forced  upon  one  that  the  true  spirit  of 
Christianity  is  as  little  understood  now  as  it  was  in  those 
days. 

The  monks  wdio  inhabit  these  buildings  are  in  one  sense 
as  interesting  as  the  buildings  themselves,  for  one  has  only 
to  converse  with  them  to  be  transported  to  the  Middle  Ages. 
They  are  probably  the  only  class  of  men  who  have  remained 
absolutely  unaffected  by  nineteenth-century  civilization  or 
modes  of  thought.  They  are  like  the  toads  that  have  been 
locked  up)  for  centuries  in  stone,  and  might  in  so  far  as  their 
religious  views  are  concerned  be  the  identical  individuals 
who,  in  the  time  of  the  crusaders,  used  to  inhabit  the  cells 
they  now  occupy.  From  a  psychological  point  of  view,  then, 
it  is  curious  to  converse  with  them  on  matters  of  faith  and 
religion,  for  unless  one  has  had  personal  experience  of  the 
degree  of  ignorance  and  superstition  which  are  still  to  be 
found  in  a  recluse  of  the  Armenian  Church,  for  instance, 
one  could  not  credit  the  fact  that  such  a  being  exists;  and 
still  represents  a  considerable  class  in  the  days  in  which  we 
live. 

The  Arabs  around  Jericho  are  of  a  tribe  called  Abou 


330 


HAIFA . 


ISTuseir.  They  venerate  a  place  called  “The  Place  of  Sepul¬ 
chre  of  Dawar.”  This  personage  was  their  ancestor,  and  the 
Abou  Nuseir  bury  their  dead  in  the  tombs  of  the  Dawar 
people.  Arabs  of  any  other  tribe  passing  this  spot  make 
use  of  the  expression,  “Permission,  oh,  Dawar,”  and  the 
valley  is  sacred,  and  ploughs,  grain,  and  other  articles  are 
deposited  here  for  safety.  The  usual  votive  offerings — sticks, 
rags,  bracelets  —  are  found  near  the  tombs.  This  tribe  is 
scattered  about  in  tents  among  the  thorny  bushes  that  cover 
the  plain,  amid  which  their  flocks  find  good  pasture.  They 
are  reputed  to  have  a  bad  character,  but  we  made  great 
friends  with  them,  owing  to  a  circumstance  which  secured 
their  gratitude. 

While  sitting  by  the  fountain  one  afternoon  we  saw  a 
number  of  Arabs  carrying  a  man  on  a  litter.  This  excited 
our  doctor’s  curiosity,  and  we  immediately  hailed  the  pro¬ 
cession.  They  told  us  they  had  a  wounded  man,  and  we 
replied  we  had  a  doctor,  and  they  waited  till  we  came  up. 
In  fact,  an  elderly  man  had  just  received  a  bullet  in  the  leg 
from  a  friend  with  whom  he  had  had  a  quarrel,  which  splint¬ 
ered  the  bone  a  little  below  the  knee.  The  ball  was  still 
lodged  in  the  leg.  The  doctor,  who  had  made  five  military 
campaigns,  and  had  probably  dressed  as  many  gunshot  Vv  ounds 
as  any  man  alive,  was  in  his  element.  Instantly  the  man 
was  taken  to  the  nearest  tents,  splints  of  bamboo  and  band¬ 
ages  of  flour  and  the  white  of  an  egg  were  speedily  extem¬ 
porized,  while  a  large  audience  of  wilddooking  men,  women, 
children,  and  dogs  crowded  around  to  watch  operations. 

The  ball  was  probed  for,  not  with  any  surgical  instru¬ 
ment,  for  we  were  unprepared  for  any  such  emergency,  but 
with  the  finger.  The  only  instruments  forthcoming  were  a 
penknife  and  a  razor.  The  question  was  how  to  get  the 
ball  out  with  such  appliances.  The  occasion  was  one  which 
called  for  a  display  of  genius,  but  the  demand  was  not  made 
in  vain  ;  with  that  simplicity  which  is  its  most  marked 
characteristic,  the  doctor  cut  into  the  opposite  side  of 
the  leg  with  the  razor,  and  then  pushed  the  ball  clean 
through  with  his  finger.  The  astonishment  of  the  audience 
was  excessive  at  the  appearance  of  the  crushed  bullet,  and 
the  wounded  man,  a  weather-beaten  old  Semite,  who  had 


\ 


JERICHO— A  NEW  WINTER  RESORT.  331 

bellowed  lustily  while  the  operation  was  going  on,  kissed 
the  doctor’s  hand  effusively,  and  consoled  himself  with 
coffee  and  cigarettes,  in  which  we  joined,  while  the  band¬ 
aging  and  splinting  was  in  progress.  For  a  couple  of  days 
after  this  the  doctor  visited  his  patient  twice  a  day  amid  the 
warmest  expressions  of  gratitude  on  the  part  of  the  tribe, 
who  forthwith  brought  all  their  sick  to  be  cured,  and  the 
blessings  which  were  invoked  upon  us  echoed  in  our  ears 
when  we  took  our  departure,  till  they  died  away  in  the  dis¬ 
tance. 


A  SHORT  CUT  OYER  AH  UNKNOWN  COUNTRY. 


Haifa,  Oct.  1. — About  lialf  a  mile  in  rear  of  our  camp,  at 
Ain-es-Sultan,  rose  a  precipice  a  thousand  feet  high,  which 
culminated  in  the  lofty  crest  of  a  mountain  called  Quarantul. 
It  derives  its  name  from  a  tradition  which  identities  it  with 
the  mount  upon  which  Christ  was  tempted  for  forty  days  in 
the  wilderness.  Of  course,  it  is  not  the  mountain  at  all,  or, 
at  all  events,  there  is  not  the  smallest  particle  of  evidence  to 
prove  that  it  is,  but  that  is  a  trifle  where  sacred  sites  are 
concerned.  The  face  of  this  precipitous  cliff  is  honeycombed 
with  the  black  mouths  of  caverns.  Sitting  round  our  camp¬ 
fire  at  night  we  observed  lights  gleaming  from  the  sheer  side 
of  the  rock.  Otherwise  there  was  nothing  to  lead  us  to  sup¬ 
pose  that  any  of  these  caverns  could  be  occupied  by  human 
beings.  But  these  fires  excited  our  curiosity,  and  we  de¬ 
termined  to  pay  the  cave-dwellers  perched  so  high  above  our 
heads  a  visit. 

The  operation  turned  out  a  more  dizzy  one  than  I  had 
anticipated.  No  guide  was  necessary,  for  we  could  see  the 
track  winding  like  a  thread  up  the  face  of  the  precipice. 
For  the  first  three  hundred  feet  or  so  it  was  all  plain  sailing, 
but  then  the  ledge  became  horribly  narrow.  Occasionally 
the  path  was  so  steep  that  it  dwindled  into  rock-cut  steps. 
A  false  step  would  have  sent  you  thundering  hundreds  of 
feet  down  into  the  abyss.  At  one  place  the  height  was  so 
dizzy,  the  foothold  so  slight,  that  my  nerve,  which  for  this 
sort  of  work  is  not  what  it  once  was,  began  to  give  way,  and 
I  ignominiously  squatted  down,  with  my  face  turned  to  the 
rock,  and  tried  to  steady  myself  by  forgetting  that  six  inches 
behind  me  was  a  yawning  chasm,  from  which  a  pebble  might 
have  been  dropped  plumb  to  the  bottom.  Retreat  was  as 
bad  as  advance,  and  more  humiliating.  For  the  rest  of  the 
way  I  went  on  my  hands  and  knees,  to  the  amusement  of  my 


A  SHORT  CUT  OVER  AN  UNKNOWN  COUNTRY.  333 


companion,  whose  brain  was  not  similarly  affected.  I  don’t 
know  anything  more  disagreeable  than  the  irresistible  im¬ 
pulse  which  overtakes  one  sometimes  to  pitch  one’s  self  head¬ 
long  over  a  precipice  of  this  kind. 

At  last,  to  my  inexpressible  relief,  I  reached  the  mouth  of 
a  cave,  into  which  I  sprawled,  panting,  with  thankfulness, 
but  oppressed  nevertheless  with  the  horrible  consciousness 
that  I  had  the  return  voyage  still  to  make.  However,  I  dis¬ 
missed  this  painful  consideration  for  the  moment,  and  ap¬ 
plied  myself  to  the  examination  of  the  curious  grotto  which 
we  had  reached.  It  was  a  sort  of  ante-chamber  to  a  tunnel 
in  the  rock,  passing  through  which  wre  came  upon  some 
dreadful  steps  cut  on  the  face  of  the  rock;  but  here  there 
was  a  slight,  rickety  balustrade  of  "wood,  and  at  the  top  stood 
a  greasy  old  monk,  a  sight  which,  under  the  circumstances, 
produced  a  more  soothing  effect  upon  my  mind  than  such  a 
sight  usually  does.  This  ecclesiastical  worthy  received  us 
with  gracious  smiles,  and  led  us  through  another  tunnel  into 
a  sort  of  vestibule,  which  opened  into  a  chapel  which  had  been 
constructed  at  the  mouth  of  a  cave,  so  that  the  front  facing 
the  precipice  was  of  masonry.  Looking  out  of  the  window 
which  had  been  constructed  in  this  wall,  a  stone  might  have 
been  dropped  at  least  five  hnndred  feet  without  touching 
anything  till  it  reached  the  bottom.  This  chapel  was  gor¬ 
geously  fitted  up,  thanks  to  the  contributions  of  pilgrims 
whose  heads  must  have  been  steadier  than  mine  was.  It 
had  a  handsomely  decorated  screen  covered  with  sacred 
designs  richly  gilt.  The  apse  was  six  feet  in  diameter,  and 
the  total  length  from  the  inside  of  the  apse  to  the  back  of 
the  cave  about  twenty -five  feet,  the  breadth  being  about 
twenty.  A  door  led  out  of  this  chapel  into  a  narrow  pas¬ 
sage  and  up  two  or  three  steps  into  another  cave,  or  niche, 
where  there  was  a  figure  of  a  saint. 

As  far  as  I  could  understand  from  the  monk,  who  spoke 
Greek,  and  very  bad  Italian,  somewhere  here  was  the  spot 
where  Christ  stood  when  he  was  tempted.  The  walls  of  the 
chapel  were  covered  with  frescoes.  The  large,  cavernous 
vestibule  was  the  dwelling-place  of  the  monk,  with  whom 
was  associated  a  younger  sort  of  acolyte,  who  lived  in  a  cave 
overhead,  which  was  reached  by  a  flight  of  stone-cut  steps 


HAIFA. 


on  A 
ooi 

from  the  back  of  the  vestibule.  There  was  also  a  small 
inner  cave,  fitted  with  a  door,  in  which  they  kept  their 
stores.  The  old  man  told  me  he  had  lived  here  like  an 
eagle  in  an  eyrie  for  ten  years  without  even  descending  to 
the  plain  below.  I  wondered  how  he  kept  his  health  with¬ 
out  taking  exercise.  All  hermits  who  live  on  the  sides  of 
precipices  should,  I  think,  have  treadwheels  of  some  kind 
fitted  up  for  them,  or  rotating  cages  like  those  in  which 
Italian  white  mice  take  their  exercise.  I  don’t  think  our 
old  friend,  however,  led  a  very  ascetic  life,  so  far  as  eating 
and  drinking  are  concerned.  He  insisted  on  our  staying  to 
drink  some  excellent  coffee,  after  which  he  produced  a  bot¬ 
tle  of  very  good  mastic,  or  spirit  made  from  corn  and  flavored 
with  anise-seed.  I  observed  some  fresh  green  salad  and 
cauliflower  on  his  side-table,  which  the  Arabs  bring  him 
from  their  gardens  at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  He  had  also  an 
abundant  supply  of  good  Arab  bread.  His  water  is  sup¬ 
plied  from  a  cistern,  of  which  there  are  several  attached  to 
the  caves.  He  told  me  that  eight  of  these  were  at  present 
inhabited,  but  most  of  them  were  higher  up.  He  was  the 
spiritual  superior  of  them  all,  and  although  there  wTas  an¬ 
other  chapel  in  ruins,  his  wTas  the  only  one  in  which  service 
was  performed.  lie  invited  me  to  continue  my  explorations 
to  the  caves  higher  up,  but  my  mind  was  so  much  occupied 
with  thinking  how  I  was  to  get  down  as  to  exclude  from  it 
any  idea  of  going  higher  up.  Altogether  this  hermit  was  a 
jolly,  hospitable  old  fellow,  and  it  would  be  as  cruel  to  pick 
him  out  of  his  hole  and  drop  him  into  the  busy  world  as  it 
is  to  pick  a  periwinkle  out  of  his  shell  with  a  pin. 

Partially  shutting  my  eyes  and  presenting  my  rear  to  the 
enemy,  I  crawled  backwards  down  the  giddy  steps,  and  just 
at  an  uncomfortable  corner  came  upon  a  jet-black  man  in  a 
sort  of  priestly  garb,  'who  turned  out  to  be  an  Abyssinian 
hermit.  He  has  no  connection  with  the  establishment  I  had 
been  visiting,  having  his  own  cell  and  his  own  church  all  to 
himself.  His  bosom  was  stuffed  with  manuscripts  in  Ethio¬ 
pian  characters.  Under  any  other  circumstances  I  would 
have  endeavored  to  converse  with  so  rare  a  specimen  of 
ecclesiastical  humanity  ;  but  how  can  a  man  engage  in  a 
theological  discussion  in  an  unknown  tongue,  hanging  be- 


A  SHORT  CUT  OVER  AN  UNKNOWN  COUNTRY.  335 


tween  earth  and  heaven  on  six  inches  of  slippery  rock?  I 
felt  rather  inclined  to  say  vade  retro  S 'atanas — not  an  inap¬ 
propriate  remark,  considering  the  mountain  I  was  on;  and 
yet  the  poor  man  meant  well,  and,  indeed,  gave  me  an  arm. 
He  does  not  stick  to  his  perch,  however,  like  the  old  raven  I 
had  been  visiting  above,  but  usually  resides  in  Jerusalem, 
visiting  his  cave  during  the  forty  days  of  Lent  and  at  other 
stated  periods. 

We  now  determined  to  bid  adieu  to  Jericho  and  the  Mount 
of  the  Temptation  and  to  strike  across  country  into  Samaria. 
This  would  take  us  over  an  unbeaten  track  and  show  us  a 
country  very  imperfectly  known.  W e  trusted  to  finding  our 
way  by  asking  it,  or  by  picking  up  local  guides  when  we 
were  utterly  at  a  loss.  By  this  means,  although  one  runs  a 
considerable  risk  of  being  benighted,  or  of  having  to  scram¬ 
ble  over  almost  impracticable  mountain  paths,  you  get  a  bet¬ 
ter  chance  of  stumbling  upon  objects  of  interest  than  by  fol¬ 
lowing  a  more  trodden  route.  For  more  than  two  miles  we 
skirted  in  a  northeasterly  direction  the  base  of  the  lofty  cliffs 
of  the  Jebel  Quarantul.  On  our  right  a  copious  steam,  which 
has  its  rise  in  a  fountain  called  Ain  Duk,  irrigated  an  exten¬ 
sive  tract  of  land,  which  was  green  and  well  cultivated.  If 
there  had  only  been  population  enough  to  develop  it  proper¬ 
ly  it  would  be  a  most  productive  region.  There  were  all  the 
evidences  that  in  ancient  times  its  resources  were  not  thus 
neglected.  Everywhere  the  remains  of  stone  watercourses 
and  aqueducts  were  visible,  one  bridge  in  particular  having 
no  fewer  than  three  tiers  of  arches  one  above  another.  The 
construction  was  ingenious  and  peculiar.  At  the  bottom  or 
narrowest  part  of  the  ravine  which  it  spanned  was  one  huge 
pointed  arch.  Immediately  over  this  were  four  pointed 
arches,  while  at  the  side  of  them  was  a  fifth,  double  the 
height  of  the  others,  the  foundations  of  which  were  in  the 
steep  side  of  the  ravine.  Above  these  again  were  six  more 
pointed  arches  which  supported  the  aqueduct.  Thus  there 
were  altogether  twelve  arches,  and  of  these  only  two  were 
the  same  size.  The  old  Roman  masonry  of  which  they  were 
composed  was  still  in  a  very  good  state  of  preservation. 
Near  this  aqueduct  were  also  the  substantial  remains  of  an 
old  Roman  road. 


336 


HAIFA. 


We  now  crossed,  for  about  three  miles,  a  fine  undulating 
country  covered  with  rich  herbage,  upon  which  large  herds 
of  cattle  were  feeding,  and  followed  most  of  the  way  an 
ancient  cemented  channel,  about  four  feet  wide,  which  had 
formerly  conveyed  the  waters  of  another  stream  to  swell 
those  which  had  their  origin  at  Ain  Duk,  and  all  of  which 
were  carried  over  the  aforementioned  high  level  bridge.  The 
stream  which  we  were  now  approaching  was  also  surrounded 
by  cultivated  and  irrigated  land.  The  whole  of  this  plain 
in  its  richness  and  wealth  of  water  far  surpassed  anything 
my  expectations  had  led  me  to  anticipate.  Near  the  base  of 
the  mountains  from  which  this  fine  stream  issues  are  the  re¬ 
mains  of  an  ancient  fortress  situated  on  a  high  mound  or 
tell,  called  Khurbet  el  Aujeh.  The  stream  bears  the  same 
name.  This  is  the  sixth  large  stream  which  I  have  counted 
gushing  from  these  mountains  in  a  distance  of  about  eight 
miles.  My  compass  now  told  me  that  I  must  get  up  into 
the  mountains  if  I  intended  to  strike  the  Jerusalem  and  Sa¬ 
maria  road  at  the  point  which  I  proposed.  From  informa¬ 
tion  which  I  had  taken  before  starting  I  expected  to  find  the 
track  in  question  ascending  the  valley  from  which  the  Aujeh 
issues,  but  we  looked  in  vain  for  signs  of  any  such  track. 
Indeed,  on  forcing  our  way  up  it  a  little  distance,  we  found 
that  its  precipitous  sides  closed  in  on  us  in  a  manner  which 
effectually  barred  all  further  progress.  We  were  wonder¬ 
ing  what  to  do  in  our  dilemma,  when,  fortunately,  we  ob¬ 
served  some  peasants  making  some  irrigating  channels,  and 
from  them,  after  much  chaffering,  we  obtained  a  guide.  It 
is  a  singular  thing  that  these  poor  peasantry,  whose  day’s 
labor  in  the  fields  cannot  be  worth  more  than  ten  cents  to 
them,  will  refuse  fifty  rather  than  leave  what  they  are  about 
and  act  as  guides.  On  this  occasion  it  was  with  great  diffi¬ 
culty  that  I  bribed  a  man  with  a  dollar.  To  our  surprise  he 
took  us  straight  to  the  base  of  an  apparently  impracticable 
cliff  and  proceeded  to  climb  up  it.  As  my  experience  of 
Palestine  horses  has  convinced  me  that  they  can  go  almost 
wherever  a  man  can,  provided  you  leave  them  to  find  their 
own  way,  we  proceeded  to  breast  the  limestone  crags  without 
misgiving,  the  only  hardship  being  that  the  day  wras  hot 
and  we  had  to  climb  them  on  foot.  To  scramble  up  a 


A  SHORT  CUT  OVER  AN  UNKNOWN  COUNTRY.  337 


thousand  feet  on  a  stretch  by  a  path  which  was  generally 
quite  invisible  is  no  slight  operation,  and  one  which,  in  this 
instance,  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  perform  without 
a  guide,  such  impassable  barriers  did  the  rocks  seem  to  pre¬ 
sent  until  the  guide  showed  us  the  way  to  circumvent  them. 
When  we  did  reach  what  we  fondly  hoped  was  the  summit, 
it  was  only  to  find  a  barren,  undulating  wilderness  stretch¬ 
ing  before  us,  every  now  and  then  involving  more  climb¬ 
ing,  for  the  elevation  at  which  we  were  destined  to  arrive 
before  the  end  of  our  day’s  journey  was  more  than  four 
thousand  feet  higher  than  the  level  from  which  we  started. 

If  the  scenery  by  which  we  now  found  ourselves  sur¬ 
rounded  was  rugged,  it  was  wild  and  grand  in  the  extreme. 
Gloomy  and  precipitous  gorges  intersect  these  mountains  in 
every  direction.  Not  a  sign  of  a  habitation  is  visible  any¬ 
where,  and  with  the  exception  of  a  single  goatherd  we  did 
not  meet  a  human  being  for  hours.  The  vegetation  was 
also  very  sparse,  relieved,  however,  by  great  quantities  of 
the  fragrant  white  broom  in  flower,  and  cyclamen  and  scarlet 
anemones.  Even  in  the  days  of  the  ancients  it  must  have 
been  a  barren,  uncultivated  tract,  but  I  was  repaid  for  the 
scramble  across  it  by  one  or  two  evidences  of  extreme  an¬ 
tiquity  of  the  greatest  interest.  The  first  of  these  consisted 
of  four  huge  prostrate  slabs  of  stone.  They  were  evident¬ 
ly  the  blocks  which  had  once  formed  a  dolmen  that  had  been 
overturned.  Now,  the  interest  of  this  lies  in  the  fact  that 
no  dolmen,  or  signs  of  a  dolmen,  has  ever  yet  been  discov¬ 
ered  in  Judea,  though  eagerly  searched  for.  There  is  only 
one  doubtful  one  in  Galilee,  but  they  are  abundant  to  the 
east  of  the  Jordan.  The  reason  assigned  for  this  is  that  the 
tribes  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan  did  not  obey  the  command, 
when  they  entered  the  land  of  Canaan,  to  “  overturn  the  ta¬ 
bles  of  stone,”  to  destroy  the  Canaanitish  altars,  and  to  break 
or  smash  their  pillars;  while  the  tribes  to  the  west,  especial¬ 
ly  Judah  and  Benjamin,  were  very  particular  in  this  regard. 

Here,  I  think,  is  the  only  evidence  which  has  yet  been 
found  in  Judea  of  this  interesting  fact.  This  region  was 
apparently  one  much  dedicated  to  Baal  worship.  I  saw 
many  stone  circles  and  one  or  two  alignments  of  large 
stones,  but  the  most  curious  was  an  enclosure  about  twenty- 
22 


338 


HAIFA. 


four  yards  square,  formed  of  rough,  unhewn  stones,  each  • 
weighing  a  ton  or  more,  piled  to  a  height  of  two  or  three 
upon  each  other.  In  the  centre  was  a  circle,  eight  feet  in 
diameter,  of  large  stones,  with  a  single  stone  in  the  middle  of 
it.  This  was  a  monument  which  evidently  existed  from  pre- 
Judaic  times;  but,  although  I  attempted  hurriedly  to  take  its 
bearings,  I  am  afraid  that  in  that  wilderness  of  stone  I  should 
never  be  able  to  find  it  again. 

We  were  pretty  well  worn  out  when  we  reached  at  last  the 
village  of  Mugheir,  the  first  inhabited  place  we  had  seen 
since  leaving  our  camp  near  Jericho,  and  where  we  proposed 
to  call  a  halt  for  the  refreshment  of  man  and  beast.  Mean¬ 
time,  as  our  tents  and  baggage  had  been  sent  by  another 
road,  we  began  to  feel  extremely  doubtful  as  to  when  we 
should  ever  see  them  again. 


EXPLORATIONS  IN  PALESTINE. 


Haifa,  Oct.  '7. — The  village  of  Mugheir,  where  we  halted 
to  rest  after  our  long  and  weary  scramble  from  the  Jordan 
valley,  is  one  of  the  most  out-of-the-way  places  to  be  found 
in  Palestine.  It  is  not  on  the  way  anywhere,  but  a  sort  of 
Ultima  Thule — the  last  spot  where  ground  fit  for  cultiva¬ 
tion  is  to  be  found.  It  stands  on  the  margin  of  a  charming 
little  plain,  where  there  is  a  fine  olive  grove.  Indeed,  look¬ 
ing  westward,  the  prospect  is  cheery  enough,  but  eastward 
it  is  wild  rock,  black,  gloomy  gorges,  or  less  precipitous  but 
equally  barren  valleys.  The  sheik  received  us  with  great 
cordiality,  albeit  quite  unused  to  the  visits  of  travellers,  and 
spread  before  us  such  fare  as  he  could,  flat  Arab  bread, 
roasted  eggs,  curdled  goat’s  milk,  and  figs,  butter,  and  hon¬ 
ey.  I  mention  the  last  three  together  because  you  eat  them 
together.  You  first  dip  your  dried  fig  into  the  butter,  you 
then  dip  it  into  the  honey,  and  then  put  it  into  your  mouth. 
I  never  tried  the  combination  before,-  but  it  is  not  bad.  He 
also  gave  us  a  hot  compound  of  flour  and  sugar  boiled  to¬ 
gether,  which  he  seemed  to  think  a  great  deal  of,  but,  be¬ 
yond  being  sweet  and  sticky,  it  had  no  especial  merit.  His 
wife  was  the  fairest  woman  I  ever  saw  for  a  pure-blooded 
fellahah  peasant.  In  fact,  she  could  not  have  been  fairer 
had  she  been  a  blue-eyed,  light-haired  Swede  or  German. 

After  satisfying  my  hunger  I  went  to  look  for  antiqui¬ 
ties,  and  found  several  rock-cut  tombs  and  cisterns,  a  fine 
rock-hewn  wine-press,  and  four  towers  all  in  a  good  state  of 
preservation,  and  three  of  them  inhabited.  They  measured 
thirty  feet  square  and  as  many  in  height.  The  basement 
stones  were  massive  enough  to  be  the  masonry  of  a  former 
period,  but  exactly  of  what  date  I  am  unable  to  say,  possi¬ 
bly  not  earlier  than  the  crusades;  though  I  found  some 
foundations  of  walls  which  I  am  inclined  to  ascribe  to  a 


340 


HAIFA. 


much  older  date.  There  has  been  probably  a  town  or  village 
here  from  time  immemorial,  though  I  am  unable  to  identify 
it  with  any  Biblical  site. 

The  sheik  insisted  upon  accompanying  us  himself  as 
guide  to  a  place  called  Singil,  which  we  had  fixed  upon  as 
our  night  quarters.  Our  way  led  us  through  a  small,  de¬ 
pressed  plain.  After  passing  some  remains  of  no  special  in¬ 
terest  we  reached  a  very  remarkable  ruin,  called  El-Habs. 
It  is  a  tower  on  a  rocky  scarp,  with  walls  built  partly  of 
masonry,  partly  of  rock,  which  measure  about  sixty  feet  by 
thirty.  The  stones  of  which  these  walls  are  composed  are 
of  immense  size,  measuring  from  twelve  feet  up  to  eighteen 
feet  in  length,  with  a  height  of  from  three  to  four  feet  each. 
The  masonry  is  thus  quite  equal  to  the  average  size  of  the 
temple  stones  in  Jerusalem.  The  tower  has  two  entrances. 
Near  it  are  the  remains  of  another  large  building  of  about 
one  hundred  feet  square  outside  measurement,  and  with 
walls  six  feet  thick.  Its  interior  is  divided  into  four  paral¬ 
lel  chambers,  running  east  and  west,  of  various  breadth. 
One  of  the  partition  walls  has  archways  through  it,  with 
piers  between.  All  round  these  buildings  are  the  founda¬ 
tions  of  ancient  walls  and  houses  and  bell-mouthed  cisterns. 
The  whole  place  bears  the  marks  of  extreme  antiquity.  It 
has  been  examined  by  the  officers  of  the  Palestine  Survey, 
but  is  not  mentioned  in  any  guide-book,  and  I  am  unable  to 
form  any  conjecture  in  regard  to  it. 

Our  road  now  lay  through  a  fertile  plain,  called  The 
Meadow  of  the  Feast,  possibly  in  some  connection  with  the 
yearly  feast  which  used  to  be  held  by  the  Jews  in  old  times 
at  Shiloh,  from  which  historical  site  we  were  not  far  dis¬ 
tant.  It  is  a  comfort  now  and  then  to  come  upon  a  Biblical 
site  about  the  identity  of  which  there  is  not  the  slightest 
doubt,  and  such  is  the  case  with  Seilun,  the  modern  name 
for  Shiloh.  It  stands  in  an  extremely  retired  valley,  and  on 
our  way  to  it  we  put  up  the  third  batch  of  gazelles  we  had 
started  in  one  day.  This  was  the  spot  where  the  Taber¬ 
nacle  was  first  permanently  set  up  in  Canaan,  and  where  the 
Israelites  assembled  to  allot  the  Promised  Land.  They  were 
probably  encamped  hard  by  on  The  Meadow  of  the  Feast, 
across  which  we  had  just  been  riding,  and  it  was  probably 


EXPLORATIONS  IN  PALESTINE. 


341 


on  this  meadow,  while  the  maidens  were  dancing  at  the  fes¬ 
tival  in  honour  of  the  ark,  that  the  remnant  of  the  Benja- 
mites  concealed  themselves  among  the  vineyards  on  the  hill¬ 
sides  and  carried  off  two  hundred  maidens.  At  present  it 
is  impossible  to  be  certain  whether  any  of  the  remains  now 
visible  existed  at  the  time  when  the  Tabernacle  was  there. 
The  ruins  which  first  strike  the  eye  on  the  hillside  are  evi¬ 
dently  those  of  a  comparatively  modern  village,  with  here 
and  there  fragments  of  masonry  which  may  date  back  to 
Crusading  times.  Then  there  is  a  low,  square  building  sup¬ 
ported  by  two  rows  of  columns,  which  has  been  used  as  a 
mosque,  but  in  early  times  may  have  been  a  Christian  church; 
but  the  most  remarkable  monument  is  a  square  building  of 
which  only  the  walls  remain.  It  is  apparently  of  three  ar¬ 
chitectural  periods,  and  it  is  just  possible  that  the  oldest 
may  have  been  Jewish.  The  original  walls  have  been  added 
to  by  a  sloping  scarp  having  been  built  against  them,  so  that 
the  wall,  which  is  about  fourteen  feet  high,  is  nine  feet  thick 
at  the  bottom,  and  about  three  feet  thick  at  the  top.  In¬ 
side  are  some  fragments  of  columns,  capitals,  and  a  door 
lintel,  which  has  recently  fallen  from  the  principal  entrance, 
on  which  are  carved  two  wreaths,  flanked  by  two  double- 
handled  pitchers,  and  in  the  centre  an  amphora. 

There  are  no  inhabitants  at  Shiloh  now,  so  we  pushed  on 
to  Singil,  a  village  situated  about  three  thousand  feet  above 
the  sea -level,  and  commanding  a  most  magnificent  view. 
The  villagers  here  showed  me  some  foundations  of  what 
they  said  had  been  an  old  castle  built  by  a  certain  King  Sin- 
bil,  but  I  strongly  suspect  that  they  substituted  the  b  for  a 
<T  as  the  village  takes  its  name  from  a  certain  Crusading 
hero,  who  was  afterwards  canonized  and  became  St.  Gilles, 
and  that  here  he  built  himself  a  castle.  The  natives  also 
sent  me  into  a  cave  on  a  wild  goose  chase  after  an  inscrip¬ 
tion,  which,  after  much  scrambling  with  lighted  tapers,  I 
failed  to  find. 

We  had  now  left  Judea,  and  were  entering  ancient  Sa¬ 
maria,  which  is  governed,  not  from  Jerusalem,  but  Damas¬ 
cus,  the  seat  of  government  being  Nablous,  a  large  town  of 
about  twenty  thousand  inhabitants,  whose  principal  indus¬ 
try  is  the  manufacture  of  soap,  with  which  they  supply  al- 


342 


HAIFA. 


most  the  whole  country.  The  towm  is  squeezed  in  between 
the  lofty  hills  of  Ebal  and  Gerizim,  both  of  which  are  over 
three  thousand  feet  above  the  sea-level.  This  is  the  valley 
of  Shechem.  Nothing  can  exceed  in  picturesqueness  the 
situation  of  this  place  and  the  beauty  of  its  surroundings, 
especially  when  the  almond  and  peach  trees  are  in  bloom  in 
the  valley.  The  steep  hillsides  seem  to  be  a  mass  of  huge 
cactuses;  these  are  used  to  line  the  terraces  of  the  vineyards 
as  hedges,  but  as  they  are  great  absorbers  of  vitality  from 
the  soil,  I  should  think  they  must  impoverish  the  land.  In 
the  autumn  these  ungainly  plants  are  thickly  covered  with 
fruit  about  the  size  of  a  large  fig,  when  ripe  of  a  bright  red. 
They  are  full  of  small  seeds,  but  sweet  and  refreshing.  The 
natives  gorge  themselves  upon  them,  as  they  are  esteemed 
wholesome,  but  they  are  traps  to  the  unwary  and  inexpe¬ 
rienced  of  the  most  painful  kind,  being  covered  outside  with 
diminutive  and  almost  invisible  prickly  hairs.  The  first  time 
I  ever  tried  to  eat  one  I  filled  my  mouth  with  these  unpleas¬ 
ant  little  spikes,  and  spent  half  an  hour  with  my  tongue  out, 
while  a  friend  was  engaged  with  a  pair  of  tweezers  extract¬ 
ing  each  individual  irritant,  but  then  he  only  partially  suc¬ 
ceeded,  and  for  the  rest  of  the  day  I  felt  as  if  I  had  tried  to 
swallow  half  a  chopped-up  hair-brush.  The  natives  pick 
the  fruit  by  digging  a  pronged  iron  into  them,  with  which 
they  twitch  them  off  the  stalk;  they  then  roll  them  on  the 
ground,  so  as  to  get  the  hairy  prickles  off,  and  then  care¬ 
fully  peel  them.  The  great  green  leaves  have  spikes  like 
pins  half  an  inch  long  upon  them,  wdiicli  inflict  a  most  vi¬ 
cious  and  poisonous  prick.  I  once  tumbled  into  a  cactus 
bush,  and  really  suffered  severely  for  many  hours.  Under 
these  circumstances  it  is  something  amazing  to  see  camels 
munching  these  leaves,  prickles  and  all,  with  apparent  relish; 
a  donkey  eating  thistles  is  a  joke  to  it. 

Nablous  is  also  surrounded  by  extensive  olive  groves,  and 
the  oil  is  celebrated  throughout  Palestine;  it  also  exports 
cotton  of  native  growth.  In  fact,  for  a  Moslem  city,  it  may 
be  considered  an  enterprising  and  go-ahead  place.  At  pres¬ 
ent  it  lacks  the  prime  necessity  of  a  carriage  road  to  the  sea- 
coast.  All  its  exports  and  imports  have  to  be  conveyed  on 
the  backs  of  camels.  If  the  long-projected  railway  from 


EXPLORATIONS  IN  PALESTINE. 


343 


Haifa  to  Damascus  could  ever  be  consummated,  a  wagon 
road  could  easily  be  constructed  in  connection  with  it,  and 
Haifa  would  then  become  the  port  of  Nablous,  instead  of 
Jaffa,  which  is  slightly  nearer  to  it.  With  the  exception  of 
the  long  central  street,  which  forms  the  principal  bazaar,  the 
streets  as  a  rule  are  more  gloomy  and  tunnel-like  than  most 
Oriental  towns,  though  there  are  many  handsome  stone 
houses,  and  the  building  of  new  ones  afforded  evidence  of 
the  growing  wealth  of  the  inhabitants.  The  consequence 
is  an  improvement  in  the  reputation  of  the  population,  who 
have  in  former  times  been  notorious  for  their  turbulent  fa¬ 
naticism,  but  of  late  years  the  Turkish  government  has  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  establishing  its  authority  on  a  firmer  foundation 
and  making  its  exercise  felt.  Indeed,  the  superficial  travel¬ 
ler  in  the  Turkish  empire,  who  only  sees  the  defects  of  the 
existing  system  of  administration,  is  hardly  a  fair  judge  of 
the  progress  that  has  been  made  in  a  certain  direction  un¬ 
less  he  is  able  to  compare  it  with  what  has  been. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  during  the  last  twenty  years 
a  great  change  has  been  worked  in  the  establishment  of  law 
and  order  and  in  the  security  of  life  and  property.  If  op¬ 
pression  has  the  disadvantage  of  grinding  the  people  and 
making  their  lives  miserable,  it,  at  all  events,  has  the  merit 
of  intimidating  them  and  restraining  them  from  acts  of  vio¬ 
lence  and  crime.  If  the  unjust  judge  and  extortionate  tax- 
gatherer  are  taking  the  heart  out  of  the  people,  they  are 
taking  the  pluck  out  of  them,  too,  and  one  result  is  that  the 
stranger  can  now  travel  in  safety  through  regions  where  he 
was  once  sure  of  being  plundered  and  possibly  murdered, 
and  walk  unmolested  through  Moslem  crowds,  where  for¬ 
merly  he  might  have  been  subjected  to  insult.  Nor  is  this 
due  to  the  direct  action  of  any  foreign  power  or  to  the  ex¬ 
ercise  of  any  diplomatic  pressure  in  favor  of  reform.  On 
the  contrary,  the  influence  of  foreign  powers  was  never  so 
low  as  it  is  at  present,  and  I  am  convinced  that  all  attempts 
on  the  part  of  foreign  powers  to  enforce  reforms  on  Turkey 
only  hinder  them.  The  influence  of  the  sultan  and  his  gov¬ 
ernment  is  not  to  be  maintained  throughout  Islam  by  any 
action  in  obedience  to  the  dictates  of  Christian  powers. 
They  resent  it,  just  as  the  South  used  to  resent  the  inter- 


344 


HAIFA. 


ference  of  the  North  in  the  matter  of  slavery;  but  this  does 
not  prevent  their  being  alive  to  any  advantages  which  ac¬ 
crue  to  the  empire  by  enforcing,  as  far  as  may  be,  a  respect 
for  law  and  order;  and,  so  far  as  it  is  possible,  to  develop 
its  resources  without  being  beholden  to  foreign  capital,  or 
increasing  the  power  and  influence  of  the  native  Christian 
population.  The  difficulty  is  that  the  instinct  of  the  Mos¬ 
lem  is  not  in  favor  of  progress,  and  that  he  is  always  out¬ 
stripped  in  the  race  by  his  Christian  neighbour. 

Again,  the  country  can  only  be  developed  through  the 
education  and  enlightenment  of  the  people;  but  where  an 
administrative  system  is  in  itself  corrupt  and  unenlightened, 
the  education  and  illumination  of  the  masses  means  their 
endowment  with  the  faculty  of  perceiving  abuses,  and  pos¬ 
sibly  with  a  determination  to  resist  them;  and  this  danger 
is  so  great  that  it  must  be  averted,  even  at  the  cost  of  the 
national  prosperity.  For  this  reason  the  government  sets 
its  face  against  the  education  of  Moslems  in  Christian 
schools,  not  because  they  are  afraid  of  the  Moslems  being 
converted  to  Christianity — there  is  not  the  slightest  danger 
of  that — but  because  they  are  afraid  of  their  imbibing  West¬ 
ern  ideas  of  social  and  political  life,  which  are  opposed  to 
the  conditions  which  characterize  the  existing  administra¬ 
tion  of  affairs.  In  fact  they  are  not  opposed  to  reform,  but 
it  must  be  a  reform  not  suggested  from  without,  nor  im¬ 
posed  upon  them  from  within;  it  must  neither  be  in  obedi¬ 
ence  to  diplomatic  pressure  nor  to  popular  clamour;  it  must 
be  a  reform  of  their  own  initiative,  and  as  any  such  reform, 
to  be  effectual,  must  begin  by  the  authorities  writh  wrhom  it 
is  to  originate  reforming  themselves,  the  process  seems  al¬ 
most  hopeless.  Still,  as  I  have  already  remarked,  there  has 
distinctly  been  change,  and  change  for  the  better,  so  far  as 
security  for  life  and  property  and  the  extension  and  en¬ 
forcement  of  official  authority  are  concerned,  during  the 
last  twenty  years — security  of  property  to  the  people,  be  it 
understood,  from  their  own  mutual  plundering  propensities. 
Whether  this  security  extends  to  the  demands  of  the  tax- 
gatherer,  and  how  far  it  has  conduced  to  their  own  material 
welfare  and  happiness,  is  quite  another  question. 


SACRED  SAMARITAN  RECORDS. 


Haifa,  Oct.  15. — The  chief  interest  connected  with  Na- 
blous  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  is  the  residence  of  the  remnant 
of  those  Samaritans  who  were  colonized  here  by  Shalma¬ 
neser,  King  of  Assyria,  when  he  carried  away  the  children 
of  Israel  captive.  From  the  Biblical  record  (2  Kings  xvii.), 
it  would  appear  that  the  new  settlers  were  drawn  from 
mixed  nationalities  and  various  cities  within  his  domin¬ 
ions.  Some  came  from  Babylon  itself,  some  from  Hamath, 
a  town  between  Damascus  and  Aleppo,  and  others  from 
Cuthah — probably  the  Kutha  of  Arabian  geographers,  a 
town  and  district  between  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates — some 
from  Ava,  wThich  has  been  identified  with  the  modern  Hit, 
and  some  from  Sepharvaim,  once  the  famous  city  of  Sip- 
para,  both  cities  on  the  Euphrates,  in  lower  Mesopotamia. 

We  are  also  told  that  the  new  colonists  petitioned  the 
King  of  Assyria  to  be  taught  the  religion  of  the  J ews,  and 
that  he  sent  them  a  Jewish  priest  to  teach  it  to  them,  and 
that  they  added  it  on,  after  a  curious  fashion,  to  the  various 
forms  of  idolatry  which  they  had  imported  from  their  dif¬ 
ferent  localities,  and  hence  established  a  mongrel  sort  of 
worship,  which  became  afterwards  purified,  but  which  never¬ 
theless  rendered  them  especially  obnoxious  to  the  Jews  of 
Judea,  all  the  more  so  because  they  intermarried  with  the 
remnant  of  the  tribes  of  Israel  which  had  escaped  the  cap¬ 
tivity,  thus  forming  a  race  as  mongrel  as  their  religion.  It 
is  about  twenty -six  hundred  years  since  this  event  took 
place,  but  the  ancient  worship  of  the  Samaritans  exists  to 
this  day;  so  also  does  the  bitter  antagonism  which  they  and 
the  Jews  entertain  for  each  other. 

This  is  the  oldest  national  feud,  probably,  in  existence,  but 
is  as  fresh  as  if  it  only  originated  yesterday.  Like  the  Jews, 
the  Samaritans  have  managed  to  survive  all  the  vicissitudes 


346 


HAIFA. 


of  fate,  but  with  the  difference  that  a  small  remnant  has 
clung  through  them  all  to  the  locality  in  which  they  were 
originally  established,  though  they  have  dwindled  in  numbers 
to  one  hundred  and  sixty  souls.  As  an  ethnological  fraction 
of  antiquity  they  are,  perhaps,  the  most  interesting  group 
of  people  extaut.  The  first  one  I  ever  made  acquaintance 
with  was  a  young  man  who  called  upon  me  in  a  mysterious 
manner  one  day  in  Haifa.  He  handed  me  a  document  in 
Arabic,  in  which,  after  stating  that  for  certain  reasons,  which 
he  implied  were  by  no  means  discreditable  to  him  (he  was 
an  outcast  from  his  own  people),  he  implored  charity,  and 
requested  me  “  to  cast  upon  him  a  regard  of  compassion  and 
benevolence.”  The  document  further  said: 

“All  that  I  have  inherited  from  my  parents  and  ancestors  is  a  manuscript 
written  in  ancient  Hebrew,  nine  hundred  years  old,  containing  two  chapters 
of  the  Bible,  including  the  commandments,  which  I  beg  to  offer  you,  in  the 
hope  that  you  will  recompense  me  in  return  by  a  sum  which  will  relieve  my 
distress.  ” 

He  signed  himself  “  Shellabi,  the  son  of  Jacob,  the  Samar¬ 
itan.”  Now,  I  knew  that  Jacob  es  Shellabi  was  once  the 
spiritual  head  of  the  sect,  for  he  had  been  in  London  under 
the  title  of  “The  Prince  of  the  Samaritans,”  and  the  ro¬ 
mance  which  attended  his  style  and  dignity  had,  it  was  re¬ 
ported,  even  captivated  a  fair  Englishwoman,  who  was  will¬ 
ing  to  become  a  Samaritan  for  his  sake.  Fortunately  for 
her  “  the  Prince  ”  was  already  married,  a  fact  which  I  be¬ 
lieve  he  only  divulged  on  his  return  to  his  native  land. 

Anyhow,  here  was  the  son  of  a  prince  in  distress,  and 
here  was  an  extremely  ancient  and  curious  manuscript  for 
sale.  The  youth  looked  such  a  scamp,  however,  that  he  did 
not  enlist  my  sympathies.  I  suspected  that  he  had  lost  his 
money  by  gambling,  which  proved  afterwards  to  be  the  case; 
so  when  he  said  he  considered  the  manuscript  worth  ten 
dollars  I  offered  him  one  dollar,  on  which  he  retired  indig¬ 
nantly.  A  few  days  later,  however,  he  reappeared,  took  his 
dollar  thankfully,  and  I  retain  possession  of  the  manuscript. 
It  is  on  coarse  parchment  of  a  yellowish-brown  color,  two 
feet  six  long,  and  fifteen  inches  wide.  It  was  evidently 
originally  longer,  but  has  been  torn  off.  One  edge  has  been 
subjected  to  the  action  of  fire.  The  writing  is  in  transverse 


SACRED  SAMARITAN  RECORDS. 


347 


columns,  each  column  thirteen  inches  long  by  five  wide,  and 
containing  from  sixty  to  seventy  lines.  The  characters  are 
of  the  old  Samaritan  type,  small,  rude,  and  irregular,  differ¬ 
ing  in  many  important  respects  from  the  ancient  Hebrew, 
and  illegible  to  a  good  modern  Hebrew  scholar  to  whom  I 
have  shown  it.  I  have  no  doubt,  however,  that  it  could  be 
deciphered  by  an  expert  in  such  matters,  who  would  also 
be  able  to  establish  from  the  formation  of  the  characters  its 
antiquity.* 

This  incident  excited  my  interest  in  the  Samaritan  ques¬ 
tion,  and  when  I  was  at  Nablous  I  visited  the  synagogue, 
examined  the  ancient  Thorah,  or  book  of  the  law,  and  have 
since  looked  into  the  subject  generally.  The  ancient  syna¬ 
gogue  was  appropriated  by  the  Moslems  some  centuries  ago. 
The  modern  building  is  a  small,  unpretentious,  oblong  struc¬ 
ture.  The  walls  are  rough  and  whitewashed,  and  the  roof 
is  vaulted  with  two  little  domes  in  the  centre.  The  mizbah, 
or  altar,  is  about  five  feet  square,  covered  with  a  veil  of 
yellow  silk.  Within  are  receptacles  for  the  sacred  books. 
Of  these  the  most  valuable  are  never  shown  to  strangers. 
One  or  two  persons  have,  however,  seen  the  most  ancient, 
which  the  Samaritans  claim  to  have  been  written  by  Abisliua, 
the  son  of  Phinehas,  thirty-five  hundred  years  ago.  It  is 
only  seen  by  the  congregation  once  a  year,  when  elevated 
above  the  priest’s  head  on  the  Day  of  Atonement. 

The  Thorah  was  rolled  round  a  cylinder  of  wood  similar 
to  those  used  in  ordinary  Jewish  synagogues,  and  I  was 
gratified  to  observe  that  it  exactly  resembled  the  fragment 
in  my  possession.  It  was  evidently  very  ancient.  The  priest 
who  showed  me  the  synagogue  was  a  remarkably  handsome, 
dignified-looking  man  about  forty  years  old.  I  asked  him 
whether  he  was  the  chief  priest.  He  said  he  was,  and  that 
Jacob  Shellabi  no  longer  had  any  position  among  them.  I 
then  said  I  had  obtained  a  piece  of  manuscript  from  his  son, 
to  which  he  made  no  reply,  but  at  once  turned  the  subject. 
I  suspect  the  youth  was  a  mauvais  sujet ,  who  committed  an 
act  of  sacrilegious  theft  before  leaving  the  paternal  mansion, 
and  who  did  not,  therefore,  deserve  more  than  he  got. 

*  This  MS.  has  since  been  examined,  and  is  pronounced  to  be  part  of  the 
Pentateuch  in  Samaritan  characters  of  the  fifteenth  century. 


348 


HAIFA. 


Now,  with  regard  to  the  sacred  books  which  I  did  not  see: 
They  are  in  some  respects  in  the  highest  degree  interesting, 
as  throwing  light  upon  the  Biblical  record.  In  the  first 
place,  from  what  is  known  of  the  most  ancient  version, 
claiming  to  be  by  Abishua,  Gesenius  and  other  great  schol¬ 
ars  have  given  it  as  their  opinion  that  if  it  could  be  col¬ 
lated,  it  would  be  found  in  many  cases  to  preserve  the  sense, 
which  has  been  lost  in  the  Jewish  version.  This  opinion  is 
founded  upon  the  results  of  such  collation  as  has  been  pos¬ 
sible  with  Samaritan  texts  which  have  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  scholars. 

Besides  the  most  ancient  roll  there  are  three  other  books 
known  to  be  in  the  possession  of  the  Samaritans.*  These  are 
the  Samaritan  book  of  Joshua,  the  Samaritan  Chronicle,  and 
the  so-called  “  Fire-tried  Manuscript.”  The  Samaritan  book 
of  Joshua  probably  dates  from  the  thirteenth  century.  It 
was  published  at  Leyden  about  forty  years  ago  from  an 
Arabic  manuscript  in  Samaritan  character,  and  is  thought  to 
have  been  compiled  from  an  early  Samaritan  and  three  later 
Arabic  chronicles.  It  is  invested  with  a  peculiar  interest 
from  the  fact  that  it  helps  to  supply  a  remarkable  lacuna  in 
the  Biblical  record,  which  does  not  appear  to  have  received 
the  attention  it  deserves  from  Biblical  students.  It  is,  in 
fact,  evident  that  a  large  portion  of  the  present  book  of 
Joshua  is  missing.  That  book  purports  to  be  an  account  of 
the  conquest  of  Canaan  and  its  allotment  among  the  twelve 
tribes.  Under  these  circumstances  it  is  most  remarkable  that 
we  have  no  account  of  the  conquest  of  Samaria,  though  the 
campaigns  in  the  south,  including  the  siege  and  taking  of 
seven  cities,  and  the  invasion  of  Galilee,  and  the  defeat  of 
the  league  of  six  kings  of  Northern  Palestine,  are  fully  de¬ 
scribed.  Then  we  have  no  list  of  royal  Samaritan  cities, 
though  all  of  them  in  the  other  parts  of  the  country  are 
carefully  enumerated.  We  have  no  description  of  the  bound¬ 
aries  of  the  two  tribes  to  which  Samaria  was  allotted,  nor 
any  list  of  the  cities  awarded  to  them.  Some  of  the  Levitical 
towns  mentioned  in  Chronicles  as  belonging  to  Samaria  are 
not  to  be  found  in  Joshua.  It  will  be  found  also  that,  taken 

*  I  am  indebted  to  the  researches  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund  for 
these  details. 


SACRED  SAMARITAN  RECORDS. 


349 


as  a  whole,  there  are  only  about  forty  Samaritan  places 
noted  out  of  some  four  or  five  hundred  places  in  Western 
Palestine. 

The  Jewish  hatred  of  the  Samaritans  rose  in  the  early 
Christian  period  to  so  great  a  pitch  that  the  Mishnic  doc¬ 
tors  avoided  even  mentioning  the  name  of  Samaria.  Thus, 
in  the  Talmud  only  some  half-dozen  Samaritan  towns  are 
noticed.  In  describing  Palestine  the  Mishna  divides  it 
into  Judea,  Galilee,  and  Peraea,  leaving  out  all  mention  of 
Samaria.  It  is  just  possible  that  long  before  this  an  omis¬ 
sion  may  have  been  purposely  made  by  the  early  transcribers 
of  the  Biblical  book  of  Joshua  in  regard  to  Samaria.  At  all 
events,  the  meagre  record  which  it  contains  is  richly  supple¬ 
mented  by  the  Samaritan  book  of  Joshua,  which  brings  down 
the  history  of  Israel  from  the  date  of  the  conquest  to  the 
time  of  Samuel,  whose  predecessor,  Eli,  was,  from  a  Samari¬ 
tan  point  of  view,  the  earliest  schismatic,  and  the  founder  of 
a  new  and  heretical  temple  at  Shiloh  in  opposition  to  that 
built  by  Joshua  on  Mount  Gerizim.  The  divine  glory  rested 
upon  Gerizim  for  two  hundred  and  sixty  years,  or  during  the 
reign  of  nine  successors  of  Joshua,  the  schism  between  the 
children  of  Judah  and  the  orthodox,  as  the  Samaritans  call 
themselves,  dating  from  the  time  of  Sin,  after  the  death  of 
Samson. 

The  book  opens  much  in  accordance  with  the  Biblical  nar¬ 
rative,  but  no  less  than  four  chapters  are  devoted  to  the  his¬ 
tory  of  Balaam  and  his  death,  being  an  enlargement  of  one 
Biblical  verse.  The  conquest  of  Shechem  by  Joshua  con¬ 
tains  an  account  of  the  miraculous  discomfiture  of  the  enemy, 
and  of  a  letter  sent  by  him  announcing  it  to  Eleazar,  the 
priest,  fastened  to  the  wings  of  a  dove.  It  contains  also  the 
account  of  a  new  league  against  the  children  of  Israel  under 
a  king  called  Saubac,  in  conjunction  with  the  kings  of  five 
other  towns,  which  can  all  now  be  identified.  A  thrilling 
narrative  of  the  battle  which  takes  place  between  Joshua 
and  these  kings  at  El-Lejjun,  on  the  ancient  Megiddo  (Ar¬ 
mageddon),  is  also  given.  With  this  episode  the  history  of 
the  war  ends.  The  chief  value  of  the  book  lies,  however,  in 
the  light  it  throws  upon  the  ancient  geography  of  Samaria. 
Out  of  a  total  of  thirty-one  places  mentioned  in  it,  thirteen 


350 


HAIFA. 


are  within  the  confines  of  Samaria,  and  most  of  these  are 
not  to  be  found  in  the  Bible. 

The  Samaritan  chronicle  goes  back  to  the  beginning  and 
gives  the  astronomical  reckoning  from  Adam.  Some  of  its 
topographical  details  are  of  much  value.  Thus  it  contains  a 
list  of  twenty-two  towns  where  the  high -priest  who  suc¬ 
ceeded  Tobiah  resided,  all  being  apparently  in  Samaria  as 
far  as  they  can  be  identified.  It  is  known  that  in  the  second 
and  third  centuries  the  Samaritans  were  in  a  very  flourish¬ 
ing  condition,  and  had  colonies  in  Egypt,  and  even  a  syna¬ 
gogue  in  Rome.  The  chronicle  gives  their  possessions  in 
Palestine  as  allotted  by  the  High -Priest  Baba  the  Great, 
about  one  hundred  and  sixty  years  after  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem.  This  description  is  interesting,  as  it  seems  to  in¬ 
clude  all  Palestine,  with  the  exception  of  Judea  proper,  to 
the  mountains  of  which  the  Jews  are  confined. 

At  a  later  period  the  chronicle  gives  a  list  of  those  towns 
which  were  inhabited  by  the  Samaritans  after  the  Hegira. 
This  is  a  period  when  very  little  is  known  of  this  nation. 
The  places  mentioned  extend  nearly  over  the  whole  of  Pal¬ 
estine  outside  of  Judea,  and  colonies  are  also  mentioned  in 
Damascus,  Cairo,  and  Baalbek.  There  is  a  ruin  about  five 
miles  from  Haifa  called  Kefr  Samir,  or  the  town  of  the 
Samaritans,  which  I  occasionally  visit  to  grub  for  inscrip¬ 
tions,  which  was  one  of  their  colonies.  Those  at  Gerar  and 
Gaza  lasted  till  the  present  century,  but  none  are  to  be  found 
now  outside  of  Rubious.  It  is  only  to  be  expected  that  the 
chronicle  should  centre  all  the  holy  places  of  the  Samaritans 
at  Shechem  or  Rubious. 

The  fifth  article  of  the  Samaritan  creed  was  the  assertion 
that  Gerizim  was  the  chosen  abode  of  God  upon  earth. 
Here  Adam  and  Seth  raised  altars;  here  Melchisedec,  ser¬ 
vant  of  the  Most  High  God,  was  met  by  Abraham — for  Geri¬ 
zim  the  Samaritans  hold  to  the  present  day  is  the  highest 
mountain  in  the  world,  the  only  one  not  covered  by  the 
flood.  Here  Abraham  offered  up  Isaac,  the  very  spot  being 
shown  on  the  eastern  brow  of  the  mountain;  and,  indeed,  as 
Dean  Stanley  has  argued,  it  is  as  likely  to  be  here  as  at 
Jerusalem,  as  Josephus  and  the  Talmudists  affirm.  Gerizim 
was  also  the  site  of  Jacob’s  vision,  and,  finally,  it  was  on 


SACRED  SAMARITAN  RECORDS. 


351 


Gerizim,  and  not  on  Ebal,  just  opposite,  as  stated  in  the 
Bible,  that,  according  to  the  Samaritans,  Joshua  erected, 
first  an  altar,  afterwards  the  tabernacle,  and  lastly  a  temple. 

The  fourth  and  last  of  the  known  ancient  sacred  books  of 
the  Samaritans  is  the  fire-tried  manuscript.  It  consists  of 
two  hundred  and  seventeen  leaves,  containing  the  law  from 
the  twenty-ninth  verse  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  to  the 
blessing  of  Moses  in  Deuteronomy.  It  is  much  worn;  the 
letters  are  not  so  small  as  those  of  Abishua’s  roll,  nor  as 
large  as  those  of  the  later  roll.  The  hand  is  steady  and 
uniform,  and  the  character  of  the  letters  indicates  that  it  is 
of  very  ancient  date.  A  note  at  the  end  of  the  book  of 
Numbers  connects  the  manuscript  with  a  story  in  the  Sama¬ 
ritan  book  of  Joshua.  It  runs: 

“  It  came  out  from  the  fire  by  the  power  of  the  Lord  to  the  hand  of  the 
King  of  Eabel  in  the  presence  of  Zerubbabel  the  Jew,  and  was  not  burned. 
Thanks  be  to  the  Lord  for  the  law  of  Moses.” 


THE  TEH  LOST  TRIBES. 


Haifa,  Oct.  25. — In  my  last  letter  I  gave  some  account 
of  the  ancient  literature  of  the  Samaritans,  which  is  still 
extant  ancl  in  their  possession.  The  people  themselves,  how¬ 
ever,  are  such  an  interesting  ethnological  fragment  of  a  re¬ 
mote  past  that  there  are  many  points  connected  with  their 
origin  and  history  which  are  worthy  of  consideration,  the 
more  especially  as  they  hear  upon  a  problem  which  has,  of 
late  years,  exercised  a  singular  species  of  fascination  over  a 
certain  class  of  minds.  I  refer  to  the  so-called  “  lost  ”  ten 
tribes.  It  may  be  a  disappointment  to  the  Anglo-Israelites 
to  suggest  that  they  are  more  likely  to  be  found  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  country  they  were  carried  from  than 
in  England  ;  but,  under  the  circumstances,  it  is  certainly  a 
more  rational  and  less  strained  hypothesis,  as  I  think  may 
be  clearly  shown  by  a  reference  to  existing  traditions,  facts, 
and  records. 

It  would  appear  from  the  recently  discovered  cuneiform 
tablets  which  are  now  under  the  investigation  of  Assyrian 
scholars,  that,  while  they  substantially  afford  a  remarkable 
confirmation  of  Biblical  history,  there  are  certain  discrepan¬ 
cies  in  regard  to  the  capture  of  Samaria  and  the  carrying 
away  of  the  Israelites  into  captivity,  which  make  it  some¬ 
what  difficult  to  determine  the  exact  date  and  nature  of  that 
event.  The  complete  recovery  of  the  records  of  Shalma¬ 
neser  (IV.),  who  no  doubt  did  besiege  Samaria,  will  clear 
this  up,  apd  throw  light  upon  the  records  of  his  successor, 
Sargon,  who  seems  to  have  succeeded  to  the  throne  about 
the  time  of  the  capture  of  the  city,  after  a  three  years’  siege, 
and  who  in  that  case  would  be  the  monarch  who  actually 
carried  off  the  Israelites.  If  this  were  so,  then,  according  to 
the  date  of  his  accession,  the  captivity  must  have  occurred 
before  the  invitation  which  Ilezekiah  sent  out  through  the 


THE  TEH  LOST  TRIBES. 


353 


country  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseli  inviting  Israelites  to  the 
Passover  at  Jerusalem,  where  we  are  informed  that  large 
numbers  attended  it  (2  Chron.  xxx.  18)  ;  and  it  would  put 
beyond  a  doubt,  what  is  in  fact  most  probable,  that  Sargon, 
in  carrying  away  the  Israelites  captive,  did  exactly  what 
Nebuchadnezzar  also  did  not  long  afterwards,  when  he  car¬ 
ried  off  the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin,  and  left  a  large 
population  of  the  poorer  classes  behind,  who  were  not  worth 
taking. 

Indeed,  when  one  comes  to  consider  the  population  which 
we  know  to  have  inhabited  Samaria  and  Galilee  at  this  time, 
it  seems  incredible  that  any  conqueror  would  have  burdened 
himself  with  a  host  which  must  have  numbered  at  the  low¬ 
est  estimate  over  a  million  souls  and  probably  a  great  many 
more;  and  this  conjecture  is  borne  out  by  the  fact  that  we 
read,  in  Jeremiah  xli.  5,  that  a  deputation  of  fourscore  Israel¬ 
ites  came  to  Jerusalem  after  its  destruction,  or  more  than  a 
hundred  years  after  the  captivity  of  the  Israelites.  That 
the  Israelites  thus  left  intermarried  with  the  colonists  sent 
from  Assyria  on  the  adoption  by  these  latter  of  the  Jewish 
religion,  under  the  instruction  of  a  priest  sent  for  the  pur¬ 
pose,  is  extremely  probable.  The  Samaritans  themselves, 
however,  deny  all  intermixture  with  the  colonists,  and  main- 
tain  they  are  pure-blooded  Israelites  ;  and  in  confirmation  of 
this  we  may  mention  their  marked  Jewish  type  of  counte¬ 
nance,  their  possession  of  an  ancient  text  of  the  books  of 
Moses,  and  their  observance  of  the  Jewish  Passover  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  most  ancient  forms  of  that  rite. 

The  Samaritan  account  of  their  origin  and  composition  is, 
as  may  be  supposed,  diametrically  opposed  to  that  contained 
in  the  books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah.  They  assert  that  at 
the  time  when  the  two  tribes  returned  from  the  captivity 
a  large  number  of  the  ten  tribes  also  returned  to  Samaria 
under  Sanballat,  called  by  Nehemiah  a  Horonite,  but  the 
Samaritans  call  him  a  Levite.  The  Samaritan  account  goes 
on  to  state  that  while  the  two  tribes  under  Zerubbabel  re¬ 
paired  to  Jerusalem,  the  rest  of  the  congregation,  three  hun¬ 
dred  thousand  in  all,  besides  youth,  women,  children,  and 
strangers,  were  led  to  Gerizim,  where  they  established  the 
Temple.  Then  came  the  quarrels  between  the  J ews  at  Jem- 

23 


354 


HAIFA. 


salera  and  the  Israelites  at  Samaria  about  the  building  of 
the  Temple ;  and  the  accounts  contained  in  the  books  of 
Ezra  and  Nehemiali  and  the  Samaritan  records  are  not  very 
discordant.  Making  allowance  always  for  the  fact  that  the 
Biblical  books  do  not  admit  that  the  Samaritans  were  Israel¬ 
ites  at  all,  though  they  admit  that  Sanballat’s  son  was  mar¬ 
ried  to  the  daughter  of  Eliashib,  the  Jewish  high -priest, 
while  this  latter  is  stated  to  have  allied  himself  with  Tobiah, 
who  was  a  Samaritan  priest.  This  caused  great  displeasure 
to  ISTehemiah,  and  increased  the  schism,  but  it  goes,  too,  far 
to  confirm  the  supposition  that  Sanballat  and  Tobiah  were 
Israelites. 

The  Samaritans  are,  indeed,  in  the  peculiarities  of  their 
doctrine,  almost  identical  with  the  original  Jewish  party — 
the  Karaite  and  Sadducean  sects.  They  are  even  called  Sad- 
ducees  in  Jewish  writings,  and  their  denial  of  the  resurrec¬ 
tion  was,  like  that  of  the  Sadducees,  based  on  the  declaration 
that  nothing  was  to  be  found  in  the  law  of  Moses  on  the 
subject.  Again,  their  version  of  the  law  is  closely  similar 
to  that  of  the  Septuagint,  which  was  a  translation  authorized 
by  a  Sadducean  high-priest  from  a  text  differing  from  that 
finally  established  by  the  Pharisees.  It  is  often  Supposed 
that  the  Samaritans  borrowed  their  doctrine  from  the  Sad¬ 
ducees,  but  it  seems  more  rational  to  admit  that  they  were 
a  sect  originally  identical,  because  originally  Israelite.  The 
animosity  of  Josephus,  who  was  a  Pharisee;  the  fierce  denun¬ 
ciation  of  the  Talmud,  written  by  Pharisees;  the  destruction 
of  the  Gerizim  temple  by  Hyrcanus,  also  a  Pharisee — all 
combine  to  indicate  that  the  Jewish  hatred  had  nothing  to 
do  with  any  foreign  origin  of  the  race,  but  w7as  rather  roused 
by  the  religious  differences  of  a  people  whom  they  knew  to 
be  their  own  kith  and  kin. 

If  we  adopt  this  theory  the  fate  of  the  ten  tribes  is  no 
longer  a  mystery.  As  we  know  that  before  the  captivity 
they  were  addicted  to  strange  gods  and  strange  marriages, 
it  is  not  improbable  that  a  large  proportion  lost  their  tribal 
identity  while  in  captivity  by  intermarrying  with  the  people 
by  whom  they  were  surrounded,  and  became  merged  with 
them.  It  is  also  probable  that  a  certain  number,  according 
to  the  Samaritan  chronicle  three  hundred  thousand  (but  it 


THE  TEN  LOST  TRIBES. 


355 


need  not  be  so  large  a  number),  returned  from  their  captiv¬ 
ity  at  the  time  when  the  two  tribes  received  permission  from 
Cyrus  to  return.  It  is  also  likely  that  others  who  still  re¬ 
tained  their  religion  did  not  return,  and  are  the  ancestors  of 
certain  Hebrew  nomads  still  wandering  in  the  desert.  The 
Jews  from  Yemen,  for  instance,  assert  that  they  are  of  the 
tribe  of  Dan,  while  there  are  Jewish  shepherds  in  Mesopo¬ 
tamia  whose  ancestry  seems  not  distinctly  traceable  to  the 
two  tribes. 

The  fact  that  those  who  returned  to  Palestine  have  dwin¬ 
dled  numerically  to  so  small  a  number  is  no  reason  why  they 
should  not  have  been  at  one  time  a  considerable  nation,  as 
indeed  we  know  they  were  from  their  subsequent  history. 
They  made  serious  revolts  against  the  Romans  in  the  time 
of  Pilate,  and  again  during  the  reigns  of  Vespasian  and  Se- 
verus,  but  under  Hadrian  they  assisted  the  Romans  against 
the  Pharisees.  In  the  sixth  century  they  attacked  the  Chris¬ 
tians  and  put  the  Bishop  of  Hablous  (or,  as  it  was  then  called, 
Heapolis)  to  death,  being  at  that  time  spread  over  Egypt 
and  the  whole  of  Palestine,  except  the  hills  of  Judea.  Cling¬ 
ing  to  the  unity  of  God,  they  hold  Moses  to  be  the  one  mes¬ 
senger  of  God,  and  Gerizim  to  be  the  earth’s  centre,  as  it  is 
the  shrine  of  their  faith.  In  this  they  are  supported  by  the 
fact  that  while  blessings  and  curses  are  invoked  on  the  two 
Samaritan  mountains  in  the  books  of  Moses,  there  is  no  men¬ 
tion  in  those  books  of  Jerusalem. 

They  also  believe  in  a  state  of  future  retribution,  and  of 
ancfels  and  devils  as  ministers  of  God  in  the  unseen  world. 
They  look  for  a  Messiah  who  is  to  be  of  the  sons  of  Joseph, 
and  they  hold  that  he  is  now  on  earth,  though  not  yet  de¬ 
clared.  His  name  is  to  begin  with  the  letter  M.  His  titles 
are  Tahcb,  “the  restorer,”  and  El-Mahdi,  “the  guide.”  Un¬ 
der  his  direction  the  congregation  will  repair  to  Gerizim. 
Under  the  famous  twelve  stones  they  will  find  the  ten  com¬ 
mandments,  and  under  the  stone  of  Bethel  the  golden  ves¬ 
sels  of  the  Temple  and  the  manna.  After  one  hundred  and 
ten  years  the  Prophet,  who  is  considered  inferior  to  Moses, 
is  to  die,  and  be  buried  beside  Joseph,  whose  tomb  they  show 
in  the  valley.  Soon  after,  on  the  conclusion  of  seven  thou¬ 
sand  years  from  its  creation,  the  world  is  to  come  to  an  end. 


356 


HAIFA. 


The  Samaritans  keep  the  Feast  of  the  Passover  on  Geri- 
zim,  near  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  temple ;  here  they  pitch 
their  tents,  and  at  sunset  they  slay  sheep  and  bake  them  for 
several  hours  in  a  huge  oven  in  the  ground,  which  is  lined 
with  stone.  The  men  are  girded  with  ropes,  with  staves  in 
their  hands  and  shoes  on  their  feet,  as  though  prepared  for 
a  journey.  They  generally  eat  standing  or  walking.  After 
the  women  have  eaten,  the  scraps  are  burned  and  a  bonfire 
kindled  and  fed  with  the  fat.  The  rest  of  the  night  is  spent 
in  prayer,  and  the  following  day  in  rejoicing.  Besides  this, 
the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  is  also  held  on  the  mountain,  where 
they  construct  arbors  of  arbutus  branches.  The  Feasts  of 
Pentecost  and  of  Purim  and  the  Day  of  Atonement  are  also 
observed. 

The  mountain  is  very  barren,  rising  abruptly  to  a  height 
of  one  thousand  feet  above  the  valley  in  which  the  town  is 
situated.  The  ruins  which  are  to  be  found  upon  it  are  de¬ 
scribed  in  the  guide-books,  so  I  shall  only  allude  to  what  is 
new  in  regard  to  them.  Considerable  excavation  was  car¬ 
ried  out  here  by  Captain  Anderson  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  and  plans  made  of  what 
remains  of  the  Fortress  of  Justinian,  which  is  one  of  the 
most  valuable  monuments  of  Byzantine  art  in  Palestine,  and 
of  the  church  said  to  have  been  built  by  Zeno.  The  twelve 
stones,  traditionally  said  to  have  come  from  the  Jordan, 
were  also  excavated,  and  found  to  be  large,  unhewn  masses 
of  rock  placed  upon  two  other  courses  of  stone  rudely  dressed 
and  not  squared.  Some  paved  platforms  were  also  laid  bare. 
These,  together  with  the  twelve  stones,  may  possibly  have 
formed  part  of  the  temple  built  by  Sanballat  on  Gerizim. 
Curiously  enough,  there  is  a  sacred  rock  here,  with  a  cave 
under  it,  not  very  unlike  the  rock  and  cave  over  which  the 
Mosque  of  Omar  is  built  in  the  Haram  at  Jerusalem,  and 
with  the  same  traditions  attached  to  them.  There  is  also  a 
large  ruin  on  Mount  Ebal,  enclosing  an  area  ninety-two  feet 
square,  with  walls  twenty  feet  thick;  but  the  excavations 
which  were  made  here  were  attended  with  no  result,  and 
conjecture  is  at  fault  as  to  what  it  may  have  been. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  spots  at  Nablous  are  Jacob’s 
well  and  Joseph’s  tomb,  but  this  from  the  point  of  view 


THE  TEN  LOST  TRIBES. 


357 


purely  of  association.  Where  sites  which  can  be  identified 
with  any  certainty  are  so  rare,  these  two  spots  stand  out  pre¬ 
eminently  as  places  about  which  there  is  a  unanimity  of 
agreement  and  force  of  tradition  which  go  far  to  confirm 
their  authenticity.  They  are  venerated  by  the  members  of 
every  religious  community  in  Palestine.  Here  also  we  may 
look  with  almost  positive  certainty  upon  the  position  taken 
up  by  the  Israelites  when  they  stood  “  half  over  against  Geri- 
zim  ”  and  “  half  over  against  Ebal,”  to  listen  to  the  reading 
of  the  law.  Great  pains  have  also  been  taken  to  discover 
the  position  of  “the  great  stone”  which  Joshua  “set  up 
under  an  oak  that  was  by  the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord  ”  when 
he  made  his  covenant  with  the  people  in  Shechem  imme¬ 
diately  before  his  death,  and  not  altogether  without  success. 
The  exactitude  with  which  the  tombs  of  Joshua,  Eleazar, 
and  Phinehas  are  described  in  the  sacred  record  enables  us 
to  regard  the  ancient  sepulchres  which  are  still  pointed  out 
as  theirs  with  far  less  skepticism  than  usually  accompanies 
our  notice  of  such  memorials  of  the  dead. 

Altogether,  the  extreme  antiquity  of  Shechem  as  a  site, 
and  the  important  events  of  which  it  was  the  scene  in  the 
earliest  period  of  Jewish  history,  invest  it  with  an  interest 
denied  to  every  other  locality  in  Palestine,  excepting  Jeru¬ 
salem  itself,  while  the  well  of  Jacob  must  ever  be  memo¬ 
rable — if,  as  was  most  likely,  it  was  the  spot  where  Christ 
met  the  woman  of  Samaria — for  perhaps  the  most  remarkable 
of  all  his  utterances.  When  we  remember  the  religious 
fanaticism  which  characterized  both  Jew  and  Samaritan,  and 
the  bigoted  prejudice  which  envenomed  the  inveterate  hatred 
they  felt  for  each  other,  and  which  turned  principally  upon 
the  rival  claims  for  sanctity  of  Jerusalem  and  Gerizim,  it 
seems  almost  incredible  that  a  J ew  could  have  been  found, 
and  he  a  carpenter,  gifted  with  such  lofty  courage  and  such 
high  spiritual  intuition  that  he  should  dare  to  say:  “Woman, 
believe  me,  the  hour  cometh  when  ye  shall  neither  on  this 
mountain,  nor  at  Jerusalem,  worship  the  Father.  They  that 
worship  him  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth.” 


RESEARCHES  IH  SAMARIA. 


Haifa,  Hoy.  3. — While  at  Hablous  I  received  information 
that  a  large  piece  of  ancient  sculpture  had  been  discovered 
by  a  man  in  excavating  some  foundations.  I  procured  a 
guide,  and  proceeded  to  his  dwelling.  It  was  evidently  the 
residence  of  a  man  of  means,  and  stood  in  a  large  courtyard, 
at  the  entrance  to  which  I  knocked  for  admittance.  After 
hammering;  for  some  time  a  voice  from  within  asked  wdio  I 
was  and  what  I  wanted.  On  my  shouting  a  reply,  I  was 
abruptly  told  to  go  away,  and  all  was  silent.  How,  the  ac¬ 
counts  I  had  heard  of  this  antiquity  stimulated  my  curiosity 
to  such  a  degree  that,  in  addition  to  the  indignation  I  felt 
at  this  treatment,  my  desire  to  see  the  relic  overcame  my 
forbearance,  and,  seizing  a  stone,  while  I  ordered  my  attend¬ 
ant  to  take  another,  we  made  the  quarter  ring  with  our 
blows.  After  a  time  the  voice  was  heard  again  :  “  Why 
don’t  you  go  away.  I  won’t  open  the  door.” 

“  I  won’t  go  away,  and  I  will  break  open  the  door  if  you 
don’t  open  it,”  I  shouted. 

“  But  I  am  the  chief  of  the  police.” 

“  I  don’t  care  who  you  are;  open  the  door,”  and  bang  went 
a  stone  Against  it. 

There  was  silence  for  a  moment,  and  then  another  and  a 
milder  voice:  “Wait  a  moment.  I  will  let  you  in,”  and 
the  door  opened  and  revealed  an  empty  courtyard  and  a 
youth. 

“  My  father  was  angry  because  you  disturbed  him  so 
early,”  he  remarked,  apologetically,  and  I  then  observed 
many  signs  betokening  a  recent  rapid  evacuation  on  the  part 
of  the  female  members  of  the  family. 

How  that  I  was  in,  with  a  large  fragment  of  a  beautifully 
carved  frieze  staring  me  in  the  face,  I  could  afford  to  be 
civil.  I  was  profuse  in  my  apologies,  and  promised  to  dis- 


RESEARCHES  IN  SAMARIA. 


359 


turb  no  one  if  I  were  only  shown  the  antiquities.  But  I  was 
destined  to  experience  another  reaction  of  disappointment 
when  the  mild  youth  informed  me  that  this  was  all  there 
was  left.  The  others  had  been  sent  to  the  museum  at  Con¬ 
stantinople.  Fortunately  antiquities,  especially  when  they 
are  massive,  travel  slowly  in  this  country,  and  as  I  had  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  these  before  they  left  Haifa,  and  made 
such  careful  copies  of  them  as  time  permitted,  I  will  describe 
them. 

The  peculiar  interest  which  attaches  to  these  remains, 
which  evidently  belong  to  the  Gneco-Roman  period,  arises 
from  the  fact  that  they  may  possibly  have  formed  part  of 
the  great  pagan  temple  which  is  represented  on  the  Greek 
imperial  coins  of  the  ancient  Acropolis.  The  main  objec¬ 
tion  to  this  theory  is  that  the  temple,  it  is  supposed,  was 
erected  on  Mount  Gerizim,  and  the  coins  show  that  it  was 
approached  by  a  handsome  flight  of  steps,  whereas  these  re¬ 
mains  were  found  not  far  from  the  base  of  the  mountain, 
though  sufficiently  on  its  slope  to  warrant  the  approach  of 
a  flight  of  steps.  The  fact  that  the  subjects  of  the  tableaux 
are  all  taken  from  Greek  mythology  would  indicate  that 
there  must  have  been  a  large  population  in  Samaria  in  those 
days,  who,  so  far  as  their  worship  was  concerned,  were  not 
Samaritans. 

Besides  two  draped  figures,  unfortunately  without  their 
heads,  one  life-size  and  one  fifty  inches  in  height,  there  was  a 
pedestal  forty  inches  high,  triangular  in  shape,  and  on  each 
face  were  two  tableaux  in  bas  -  relief,  making  six  carved 
representations  in  all,  in  a  very  perfect  state  of  preservation, 
with  inscriptions  in  Greek  above  them,  of  which,  however, 
I  have  only  been  able  to  make  out  the  general  tenor  in  some 
cases.  Besides  copying  the  inscriptions,  I  made  such  sketch¬ 
es  as  I  was  able  of  the  tableaux.  Where  many  figures  are 
crowded  together  this  is  a  very  difficult  operation.  The 
first  scene  rej>resents  a  chariot  drawn  by  serpents,  in  which 
is  a  robed  female,  while  on  the  left  a  woman  is  crouched 
down  under  a  tree.  The  second  consists  of  Artemis,  Apollo, 
and  Leto,  with  their  names  inscribed  above  them,  while  on 
the  right  is  the  serpent  Python,  his  head  pierced  by  an  ar¬ 
row.  The  third  represented  an  infant  struggling  with  a 


360 


HAIFA. 


serpent  between  two  draped  female  figures,  evidently  Her¬ 
cules  strangling  the  serpents  sent  against  him  by  Hera;  for 
above  were  the  words,  “  Troplioi  JErakles .”  These  formed 
the  upper  tableaux.  Below  them  were  three  other  tableaux, 
illustrating  the  legend  of  Theseus,  the  inscription  being 
“  Theseus  gnorismata ,”  above  a  tableau  in  which  he  is  rep¬ 
resented  raising  a  stone  under  which  are  hidden  the  sword 
and  shoes  of  his  father  Aigeus.  In  the  second  he  is  kneel¬ 
ing  on  one  knee  in  a  struggle  with  the  Minotaur,  wThile  be¬ 
hind  him  are  a  group  of  boys  whom  he  came  to  save.  In 
the  third  he  has  slain  the  robber,  who  is  lying  prostrate  at 
his  feet.  Theseus  is  nude  and  leaning  on  his  club,  with  three 
other  persons  all  robed  standing  by  him. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  had  any  one  been  present 
when  this  discovery  was  made,  a  fuller  excavation  would 
have  been  amply  repaid,  and  that  the  house  of  the  ill-tem¬ 
pered  old  Moslem  stands  on  a  site  of  the  highest  interest. 
I  have  carefully  noted  its  position,  in  the  hope  that  at  some 
future  day  conditions  may  exist  which  would  render. possi¬ 
ble  an  examination  of  his  garden,  which  is  now  surrounded 
by  a  high  wall.  It  would  require  little  digging  to  deter¬ 
mine  whether  this  was  the  site  of  the  celebrated  temple  or 
not. 

I  now  left  Nablous  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  the  ruins 
of  the  ancient  city  of  Samaria,  distant  about  five  miles,  and 
formerly  the  political  capital  of  the  country.  It  is  placed 
in  a  most  commanding  position,  and,  from  a  strategical 
point  of  view,  was  well  chosen.  Nothing  can  exceed  the 
beauty  of  the  prospect  of  the  surrounding  country  which  is 
obtained  from  it.  We  first  inspect  the  Crusading  church  of 
St.  John  the  Baptist,  which  must  have  been  a  beautiful  edi¬ 
fice  in  its  day.  The  walls  alone  are  now  standing.  In  an 
underground  crypt,  now  held  sacred  by  the  Moslem  peas¬ 
antry,  the  saint  is  supposed  to  have  been  beheaded.  The 
tradition,  though  erroneous,  is  ancient,  and  existed  in  380 
a.d.  It  has  some  colour,  from  the  fact  that  the  wilderness 
in  which  John  preached  is  near  this,  and  not  near  Jericho, 
as  is  generally  supposed.  It  can  be  pretty  well  identified 
by  the  description  “  Onon,  near  to  Salem,”  where  John  was 
baptizing,  “  because  there  was  much  water  there.”  Both 


RESEARCHES  IN  SAMARIA. 


361 


these  places  retain  their  names,  and  there  is  an  abundant 
supply  of  water,  which  flows  hence  into  the  Jordan.  The 
fact  that  Bethabara  must  be  placed  much  higher  up  the  Jor¬ 
dan  valley  than  the  position  usually  assigned  to  it  by  tradi¬ 
tion  makes  it  pretty  certain  that  the  Wady  Far’ah,  the  head 
of  which  is  near  Samaria,  in  which  are  Onon  and  Salem, 
and  wThich  flows  into  the  Jordan  not  far  from  the  probable 
position  of  Bethabara,  was  the  scene  of  John’s  ministra¬ 
tions. 

The  most  interesting  ruins,  however,  are  those  of  Herod’s 
Colonnade,  to  the  west  of  the  modern  village.  It  seems  to 
have  run  round  the  hill  on  a  flat  terrace,  in  the  middle  of 
which  rises  a  rounded  knoll,  on  which  the  temple  dedicated 
to  Augustus,  and  stated  by  Josephus  to  be  in  the  middle  of 
the  town,  presumably  stood.  The  remains  are  most  perfect 
on  the  south,  where  some  eighty  columns  are  standing. 
These  are  mainly  monolithic.  The  width  of  the  cloister 
was  sixty  feet,  and  the  pillars  are  sixteen  feet  high  and  six 
feet  apart.  The  whole  length  of  what  must  have  been  a 
most  imposing  colonnade  was  about  two  thousand  yards,  or 
nearly  a  mile  and  a  quarter.  Josephus  makes  it  nearly  two 
miles,  but  this  is  exaggerated.  There  is  another  street  of 
columns  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill  running  in  a  line  oblique 
to  the  sides  of  the  upper  colonnade.  The  colonnade  was 
entered  by  a  gateway,  flanked  by  small  towers,  the  scarps  of 
which  still  remain. 

Samaria  is  not  to  be  compared  in  antiquity  with  Shechem, 
its  most  flourishing  time  being,  probably,  during  the  reign 
of  Herod,  when,  in  fact,  all  Palestine  enjoyed  a  period  of 
architectural  magnificence  greater  than  anything  it  had  pre¬ 
viously  known.  If,  instead  of  following  the  ordinary  road 
from  Samaria,  we  ascend,  from  the  large  village  of  Burka,  a 
steep  hill,  we  burst  upon  a  view  which  is  well  worth  the 
climb,  which  has  also  the  advantage  of  being  a  short  cut. 
We  look  down  into  a  fertile  basin  covered  with  olive  groves 
and  villages,  and  in  the  distance  can  see  a  considerable  ex¬ 
tent  of  coast  line  near  Caosarea,  while  the  familiar  outline  of 
Carmel  to  the  northwest  closes  the  prospect.  Then  we 
plunge  down  into  the  gardens  of  the  village  of  Fendakumi- 
yeh,  where  there  is  a  sacred  cave  worth  visiting,  contain- 


362 


HAIFA. 


ing  two  recesses,  before  which  there  is  a  detached  block  of 
stone  like  an  altar.  It  may  probably  have  been  an  ancient 
rock-cut  chapel.  Close  to  this  village  is  another  called  Zeba, 
which  I  was  sorely  tempted  to  visit,  as  I  had  received  an  in¬ 
vitation  to  do  so  from  the  sheik  who  lives  here,  and  who  is 
one  of  the  richest  and  most  powerful  sheiks  in  the  country. 
He  had  already  called  upon  me  in  Haifa,  and  represents  the 
great  family  of  Jerrar,  who  once  exercised  an  almost  inde¬ 
pendent  rule  in  this  district,  setting  the  Turkish  govern¬ 
ment  at  defiance,  and  levying  blackmail  on  the  inhabitants, 
while  they  were  in  perpetual  feud  wfith  rival  families  who 
claimed  a  like  local  supremacy  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 
The  whole  of  this  system  was  broken  down  during  the 
Egyptian  occupation  of  the  country  by  Ibrahim  Pasha. 
When,  by  British  intervention,  it  was  handed  back  to  the 
Turkish  government,  the  latter  succeeded  in  preventing  its 
recurrence — not,  however,  without  the  application  of  force. 
More  than  one  of  these  local  sheiks  can  point  out  to  you  a 
hole  in  the  wall  of  his  house  which  was  made  by  a  Turkish 
cannon-ball.  They  are  by  degrees  submitting  to  the  influ¬ 
ence  of  civilization,  and,  finding  that  it  is  no  longer  possible 
to  compete  successfully  with  the  officials  in  plundering  the 
peasantry,  are  making  friends  with  these  latter,  so  as  either 
to  go  shares  with  them,  or  to  obtain  their  favor  and  assist¬ 
ance  in  their  own  agricultural  operations,  and  thus  avoid 
being  robbed  themselves. 

Thus  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  this  village 
there  is  a  plain  called  the  Drowned  Meadow,  from  the  fact 
that  during  a  great  part  of  the  year  it  is  a  marsh,  and 
therefore  unavailable  for  crops.  Could  it  be  drained  it 
would  add  some  thousands  of  acres  of  arable  land  to  the 
village  to  which  it  belonged.  Hot  long  ago  I  was  consulted 
in  regard  to  the  possibility  of  its  being  drained,  and  an  en¬ 
gineer  even  went  so  far  as  to  make  an  estimate  of  the  prob¬ 
able  cost  of  the  operation.  Although  the  sum  charged  was 
very  moderate,  it  was  more  than  the  capitalists  could  vent¬ 
ure  upon,  but  the  very  fact  that  they  could  entertain  such 
an  idea  was  a  marked  evidence  of  progress  on  the  part  of 
men  whose  only  notion  of  drainage  heretofore  had  been  con¬ 
fined  to  their  neighbours’  pockets. 


RESEARCHES  IN  SAMARIA. 


363 


Although  probably  I  should  have  seen  a  splendid  speci¬ 
men  of  a  native  magnate’s  establishment,!  found  that  a  halt 
at  Zeba  would  have  lost  me  a  day,  and  I  therefore  pushed 
on  without  allowing  the  sheik  to  suspect  my  proximity  to 
his  hospitable  abode,  still  keeping  to  bypaths  instead  of 
following  the  beaten  track  to  Jenin,  the  ancient  Engannin, 
or  Spring  of  Gardens.  From  thence,  in  a  day’s  journey 
across  the  plain  of  Esdrselon,  I  reached  Haifa. 


A  DRUSE  FATHER’S  VENGEANCE. 


Daliet  -  el  -  Carmel,  Noy.  7. — An  incident  so  highly 
characteristic  of  Druse  life  and  manners  has  just  occurred 
here  that  it  seems  worthy  of  narration.  About  three  months 
ago  I  was  invited  to  be  present  at  the  ceremony  of  the 
betrothal  of  the  son  of  the  richest  man  in  the  village,  by 
name  Sheik  Saleh,  with  the  daughter  of  a  neighbour  called 
Kara,  whose  wife  was  a  sister  of  Sheik  Saleh.  The  affair 
came  off  in  the  house  of  the  former,  a  small  mud-built  cot¬ 
tage  situated  in  a  court,  with  the  usual  arched  roof,  and  floor 
of  a  rough  kind  of  cement,  on  which  were  spread  rugs  and 
mats  for  the  guests  who  crowded  in  to  witness  the  ceremony. 
This  took  place  at  nine  o’clock  at  night,  and  was  performed 
by  the  khateeb,  or  spiritual  sheik.  It  consisted  in  his  join¬ 
ing  the  hands  of  the  future  bridegroom  and  bride’s  father — 
the  bride  herself  was  not  present — and  in  his  repeating  sev¬ 
eral  formulas  in  Arabic,  among  which  I  detected  some  of  the 
verses  of  the  Koran.  A  small  sum  of  money  was  then  paid 
over  to  the  family  of  the  bride,  the  khateeb  took  his  fee 
out  of  it,  refreshments  were  brought  in,  and  the  rite  was 
over. 

It  was  a  relatively  tame  performance,  and  not  to  be  com¬ 
pared  with  an  actual  wedding  of  another  couple  which  took 
place  shortly  afterwards,  when  the  festivities  lasted  three 
days  and  nights,  during  which  time  the  bride,  loaded  with 
her  dowry,  which  consisted  chiefly  of  silver  coins  formed 
into  a  head-dress  and  breastplate,  danced  incessantly  in  the 
centre  of  admiring  circles  of  girls  who  danced  round  her, 
while  the  men  were  also  making  the  night  resound  with  their 
discordant  clamour  to  the  utter  destruction  of  slumber,  firing 
off  guns,  making  bonfires,  and  singing.  In  fact,  at  the  end 
of  the  three  days  the  whole  village,  but  especially  the  bride, 
were  utterly  exhausted  by  their  protracted  gaieties.  At 


A  DRUSE  FATHERS  VENGEANCE. 


365 


the  end  of  this  time  she  was  put  upon  a  horse  and  marched 
in  solemn  procession  to  the  door  of  every  house  in  the  village, 
followed  by  a  bevy  of  damsels  screaming  and  clapping  their 
hands.  Each  house  was  expected  to  contribute  a  small  sum 
— make  a  wedding-present,  in  fact,  to  the  newly-married 
couple.  In  this  way  she  was  finally  conducted  to  the  bride¬ 
groom’s  house,  where  he  was  waiting  for  her  with  a  capacious 
mantle,  in  which,  on  her  arrival,  he  enveloped  her,  and  then 
carried  her  into  his  house  triumphant. 

To  go  back  to  the  episode  of  the  betrothal.  It  is  the  Druse 
custom  for  the  father  of  the  bridegroom  to  pay  a  sum  of 
money  to  the  bride’s  family — in  other  words,  he  buys  his  son 
a  wife.  Now,  in  this  case,  although  I  saw  some  money  pass 
on  the  occasion,  it  was  a  mere  formality.  The  father  of  the 
bride  had,  in  a  fit  of  generosity,  probably  interested,  refused 
a  sum  of  2000  piastres,  or  about  $75  for  his  daughter.  He 
proposed  instead  that  he  should  form  a  partnership  for 
agricultural  operations  with  Sheik  Saleh,  who,  being  rich, 
would  be  an  advantageous  partner.  This  Sheik  Saleh 
agreed  to,  and  the  arrangement  was  completed,  when  it  was 
objected  to  by  Sheik  Saleh’s  wife,  who,  being  a  woman  of 
character  and  resolution,  induced  her  husband  to  break  it 
off.  This  made  Kara  furious.  He  is  a  man  of  ungovernable 
temper,  and  he  determined  that  his  daughter  should  never 
wed  Sheik  Saleh’s  son.  But  a  betrothal  of  the  kind  I  had 
witnessed  is  a  very  solemn  ceremony,  and  the  only  person 
who  can  break  it  is  the  betrothed  bridegroom.  The  girl  and 
her  family  are  powerless  in  the  matter.  Kara  was  so  mad¬ 
dened  by  what  had  occurred  that,  rather  than  let  his  daugh¬ 
ter  marry  the  son  of  the  man  by  whom  he  felt  himself  to 
have  been  outraged,  he  determined  to  kill  her.  This  was  an 
odd  resolution  to  arrive  at.  One  would  have  thought  he 
might  have  gratified  his  vengeance  better  by  killing  Sheik 
Saleh  or  his  son.  Druse  passion,  however,  runs  in  curious 
channels,  and  he  appears  to  have  been  exasperated  because 
his  daughter  did  not  share  in  his  fury  against  her  cousin. 

So  he  led  her  out  to  slaughter,  riding  his  horse  and  armed 
with  his  gun,  and  driving  the  poor  girl,  who  was  weeping 
and  wailing  bitterly,  before  him.  Many  of  the  villagers  saw 
him,  and  were  well  aware  of  his  intention,  but  shrank  from 


366 


HAIFA. 


interfering.  The  place  which  he  had  selected  for  the  exe¬ 
cution  was  just  at  the  bottom  of  the  hill  upon  which  my 
house  is  situated,  and  the  hour  at  which  he  was  bent  upon 
this  bloody  errand  was  eight  in  the  evening.  Now,  it  so 
happened  that  I  have  a  Druse  servant  who  has  been  with  me 
for  more  than  a  year,  a  powerful  man,  a  splendid  sportsman, 
a  most  courageous  fellow,  and,  what  perhaps  was  of  more 
importance,  a  near  relation  of  Kara’s.  He  chanced  to  be 
passing  at  the  time,  and  knowing  his  relative’s  furious  tem¬ 
per,  and  perceiving  that  he  really  intended  to  murder  his 
daughter,  he  interfered  at  the  risk  of  his  own  life,  and  suc¬ 
ceeded  in  rescuing  the  girl.  Kara,  however,  was  still  too 
angry  to  be  reasonable.  He  returned  to  his  house  foaming 
with  passion,  and  finding  his  wife — who  had  lived  ^vyith  him 
for  many  years — weeping  bitterly  over  the  whole  occurrence, 
he  accused  her  of  sympathy  with  her  brother’s  family,  and 
in  the  heat  of  the  moment  pronounced  the  fatal  words 
which,  according  to  Druse  custom,  constitute  a  divorce. 

The  trouble  about  a  Druse  divorce  is,  that  the  sentence 
which  bids  a  woman  return  to  her  family,  once  pronounced 
by  her  husband,  is  irrevocable.  Not  only  can  he  never  take 
her  back  again  as  his  wife,  but  he  can  never,  in  this  life,  so 
much  as  even  speak  to  her  again.  If  he  sees  her  at  the 
other  end  of  the  street  he  must  turn  away  to  avoid  meeting 
her.  Nor  may  he  enter  a  house  in  which  he  has  reason  to 
think  that  she  is.  A  man  may,  therefore,  in  a  moment  of 
passion  ruin  his  own  happiness  for  life,  and  this  is  what  Kara 
did.  The  whole  occurrence  only  happened  two  days  ago, 
and  Kara  has  been  in  the  deepest  distress  ever  since.  Had 
he  killed  his  daughter,  he  said,  it  would  not  have  mat¬ 
tered.  He  would  scarcely  have  missed  her,  and  if  she  were 
to  marry  Sheik  Saleh’s  son  she  would  be  dead  to  him  any 
way;  but  to  be  deprived  of  a  wife,  against  whom  he  had 
never  had  a  complaint  to  make,  who  had  loved  him  and 
served  him  faithfully  all  these  years — this  was  a  loss  that 
nothing  could  replace. 

When  I  heard  that  he  had  spoken  in  this  cold-blooded  way 
about  his  daughter,  and  had  alluded  to  the  intention,  which 
he  admitted  he  had  entertained,  of  killing  her,  without  a 
shadow  of  compunction,  I  half  regretted  that  he  had  not 


A  DRUSE  FATHERS  VENGEANCE. 


367 


been  allowed  to  die  the  other  day  of  a  leech  which  he  had 
in  his  throat.  He  sent  word  that  he  was  dying,  and  a  medi¬ 
cal  friend  who  is  staying  with  me  went  to  see  him,  and 
found  him  in  the  last  stages  of  exhaustion  from  a  leech 
which  had  been  sixteen  days  fastened  too  far  down  his  throat 
to  be  liberated.  These  cases  are  not  uncommon,  and  are  due 
to  the  water  of  some  of  the  springs  in  the  neighbourhood. 
We  have  had  five  cases  this  year,  but  none  so  bad  as  Kara’s, 
which  was  the  first.  Salt  and  all  the  usual  means  were  tried 
in  vain,  and,  as  the  doctor  was  anxious  to  get  some  leeches 
to  experiment  with,  Kara’s  wife  and  daughter,  who  both  ex¬ 
hibited  the  greatest  distress,  were  despatched  to  a  spring 
three  miles  off  to  get  them.  The  alacrity  they  displayed 
in  his  service  were  ill  requited  by  his  subsequent  conduct 
towards  them.  Here  I  may  remark  that  large  doses  of  tur¬ 
pentine,  taken  internally,  proved  completely  successful. 
There  is  little  doubt  that,  had  the  leech  not  succumbed  to 
this  treatment,  in  two  days  more  Kara  must  have  succumbed 
to  the  leech. 

The  daring  with  which  Druses  resort  to  acts  of  violence 
is  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  they  can  always 
escape  justice.  The  moment  a  Druse  commits  a  crime  he 
flies  to  the  Hauran,  which  he  can  reach  with  hard  travel  in 
eight-and -forty  hours.  Here  he  takes  refuge  among  his 
coreligionaries  of  the  Jebel  Druse  Mountain,  over  whom  the 
Turkish  government  exercises  only  a  nominal  authority,  and 
where  pursuit  is  impossible  for  any  Ottoman  official. 

Meantime  there  is  to  be  a  great  gathering  of  the  village 
elders  to  consider  whether  it  is  possible  to  arrange  the  feud 
between  Sheik  Saleh  and  Kara.  One  of  the  uses  to  which 
Druse  Khalwes,  or  places  of  worship,  is  put,  is  to  discuss 
every  question  which  is  of  interest  to  the  village.  For  in¬ 
stance,  should  I  desire  to  buy  a  tract  of  land  from  the  vil¬ 
lage  held  by  many  proprietors,  they  would  hold  a  secret 
council  in  the  Khalwe  to  discuss  the  best  method  of  cheat¬ 
ing  me.  What  passes  at  these  meetings  is  considered  abso¬ 
lutely  secret,  and  the  minority  are  bound  to  accept  the 
opinion  of  the  majority,  and  afterwards  to  act  with  it.  This 
imparts  a  wonderful  unanimity  to  all  their  proceedings  with 
outsiders,  though  they  quarrel  very  much  among  themselves, 


368 


HAIFA. 


and  these  Khalwe  meetings  sometimes  lead  to  serious  feuds 
and  bloodshed.  It  seems  likely  to  do  so  in  this  case,  for  it 
has  been  reported  to  me  that  Kara  announced  that  if  the 
decision  of  the  meeting  went  against  him,  he  would  commit 
such  an  act  as  should  prevent  it — in  other  words,  murder 
either  his  own  daughter  or  her  betrothed. 

I  was  considering  how  I  could  best  interfere  to  prevent 
such  a  catastrophe,  when  I  received  a  few  hours  ago  a  visit 
from  Kara  himself.  The  purport  of  it,  as  usual,  was  to 
borrow  money.  I  told  him  I  could  not  possibly  lend  money 
to  a  man  who  first  decided  to  kill  his  own  daughter,  and 
then  for  no  cause  divorced  his  wife.  He  replied  that  when 
he  had  committed  these  acts  he  was  possessed  of  the  devil 
and  unconscious  of  what  he  was  doing.  I  told  him  that  to 
lend  money  to  a  man  who  was  subject  to  such  demoniac 
possession  was  like  lending  money  to  the  devil  himself, 
and  this  I  declined  to  do.  He  assured  me  that  the  devil 
had  left  him  so  completely  that  there  was  no  fear  of  his 
getting  hold  of  it.  I  said  I  required  proof  of  this,  and  he 
could  furnish  me  with  it  by  assuring  me  of  his  readiness  to 
allow  his  daughter  to  marry  her  betrothed.  He  said  that 
was  a  matter  in  the  hands  of  Allah.  “Then,”  I  said, 
“under  these  circumstances  you  are  prepared,  I  presume, 
to  accept  the  decision  of  the  village  as  the  decision  of 
Allah.” 

“Yes,”  he  replied,  “  if  they  decide  also  that  Sheik  Saleh  is 
to  pay  me  fifty  Turkish  pounds  for  my  daughter.” 

“I  am  sorry,”  I  remarked,  “that  Allah  has  just  decided 
that  I  am  not  to  lend  you  the  money  you  want  to  borrow 
from  me,  and  it  will  depend  entirely  upon  the  extent  to  which 
you  allow  the  devil  to  influence  you  against  the  will  of  Allah 
how  I  treat  you  for  the  future.” 

With  that  he  took  his  departure;  but  I  saw  enough  of 
his  cowed  temper  for  the  present  to  hope  that  the  matter 
may  be  arranged  with  a  little  judicious  financial  manage¬ 
ment.  It  does  not  give  an  encouraging  view  of  human 
nature  to  discover  how  potent  a  factor  money  is  in  its  af¬ 
fairs,  even  in  a  primitive  Druse  village. 

In  many  respects  Kara  is  a  superior  man,  decidedly  bet¬ 
ter  than  his  enemy,  Sheik  Saleh,  who  will  also  have  to  be 


A  DRUSE  FATHERS  VENGEANCE. 


369 


dealt  with,  and  who  behaved  badly  in  backing  out  of  an 
arrangement  which  had  already  been  concluded,  for  no 
valid  reason.  Owing,  however,  to  the  position  which  I  oc¬ 
cupy  financially  to  the  village,  they  are  all  more  or  less  un¬ 
der  control,  and  I  have  it  in  my  power  to  exercise  a  pressure 
which  even  the  Khalwe  would  find  it  difficult  to  resist. 

Unfortunately,  I  shall  be  obliged  to  leave  instructions  with 
regard  to  this  delicate  matter,  as  my  stay  in  Palestine  for 
the  present  is  about  to  draw  to  a  close,  and  with  it  must 
terminate  this  record  of  my  experiences  in  a  country  which, 
in  spite  of  its  many  drawbacks,  possesses  in  my  eyes  superior 
attractions  as  a  residence  to  any  other  in  which  my  lot  has 
been  cast. 

24 


THE  END. 


VALUABLE  WORKS 


OP 


IN  THE  EAST. 


Stanley’s  Conyo. 

Congo,  and  the  Founding  of  its  Free  State.  A  Story  of  Work 
and  Exploration.  By  Henry  M.  Stanley.  Dedicated  Ly  Special 
Permission  to  H.  M.  the  King  of  the  Belgians.  With  oyer  One 
Hundred  full-page  and  smaller  Illustrations,  two  large  Maps,  and 
several  smaller  ones.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $10  00. 

: 

Stanley’s  Through  the  Dark  Continent . 

Through  the  Dark  Continent ;  or,  The  Sources  of  the  Nile,  Around 
the  Great  Lakes  of  Equatorial  Africa,  and  Down  the  Livingstone 
River  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  With  149  Illustrations  and  10  Maps. 
By  Henry  M.  Stanley.  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $10  00  ;  Sheep,  $12  00 ; 
Half  Morocco,  $15  00. 

Stanley’s  Coomassie  and  Magdala. 

Coomassie  and  Magdala:  a  Story  of  Two  British  Campaigns  in 
Africa.  By  Henry  M.  Stanley.  With  Maps  and  Illustrations. 
8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

B 

Livingstone’s  Last  Journals . 

The  Last  Journals  of  David  Livingstone,  in  Central  Africa,  from 
1865  to  his  Death.  Continued  by  a  Narrative  of  his  Last  Moments 
and  Sufferings,  obtained  from  his  Faithful  Servants  Chumi  and 
Susi.  By  Horace  Waller,  F.R.G.S.,  Rector  of  Twywell,  North¬ 
ampton.  With  Maps  and  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00 ;  Sheep, 
$6  00. 

Livingstone’s  Expedition  to  the  Zambesi . 

Narrative  of  an  Expedition  to  the  Zambesi  and  its  Tributaries; 
and  of  the  Discovery  of  the  Lakes  Shirwa  and  Nyassa.  1858-1864. 
By  David  and  Charles  Livingstone.  With  Map  and  Illustra¬ 
tions.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00;  Sheep,  $5  50. 


t 


2 


Valuable  Works  of  Exploration  and  Adventure  in  the  East. 


Long’s  Central  Africa. 

Central  Africa:  Naked  Truths  of  Naked  People.  An  Account  of 
Expeditions  to  the  Lake  Victoria  Nyanza  and  the  Makraka  Niam- 
Niam,  West  of  the  Bahr-El-  Abiad  (White  Nile).  13y  Col.  C. 
Chaille  Long,  of  the  Egyptian  Staff.  Illustrated  from  Col. 
Long’s  own  Sketches.  With  Map.  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

Cameron’s  Across  Africa. 

Across  Africa.  By  Verney  Lovett  Cameron,  C.B.,  D.C.L.,  Com¬ 
mander  Royal  Navy,  Gold  Medallist  Royal  Geographical  Society, 
etc.  With  a  Map  and  numerous  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

Du  Ch  a  Ufa’s  Ashango-Land. 

A  Journey  to  Ashango-Land,  and  Further  Peuetration  into  Equa¬ 
torial  Africa.  By  Paul  B.  Du  Chaillu.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth, 
$5  00 ;  Sheep,  $5  50  ;  Half  Calf,  $7  25. 

S chive  inf  urth’s  Heart  of  Africa. 

The  Heart  of  Africa;  or, Three  Years’  Travels  and  Adventures  in 
the  Unexplored  Regions  of  the  Centre  of  Africa.  From  1868  to 
1871.  By  Dr.  Georg  Sciiweinfurtit.  Translated  by  Ellen  E. 
Frewer.  With  an  Introduction  by  Winwood  Reade.  Illustra¬ 
ted  by  about  130  Wood-cuts  from  Drawings  made  by  the  Author, 
and  with  Two  Maps.  2  vols  ,  8vo,  Cloth,  $8  00. 

Van-Lennep’s  Bible  Lands. 

Bible  Lands :  their  Modern  Customs  and  Manners  Illustrative  of 
Scripture.  By  the  Rev.  Henry  J.  Van-Lennep,  D.D.  Illustrated 
with  upwards  of  350  Wood  -  engravings  and  two  Colored  Maps. 
838  pp.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00 ;  Sheep,  $6  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $8  00. 

Spehe’s  Africa. 

Journal  of  the  Discovery  of  the  Source  of  the  Nile.  By  John  Han¬ 
ning  Speke,  Captain  H.  M.  Indian  Army,  Fellow  and  Gold  Medal¬ 
list  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  Hon.  Corresponding  Member 
and  Gold  Medallist  of  the  French  Geographical  Society,  etc.  With 
Maps  and  Portraits  and  numerous  Illustrations,  chiefly  from  Draw¬ 
ings  by  Captain  Grant.  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00;  Sheep,  $4  50. 

B rime’s  Boat-Life  in  Bggpt  and  Nubia. 

Boat -Life  in  Egypt  and  Nubia.  By  William  C.  Prime.  Illus¬ 
trated.  12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 


Valuable  Works  of  Exploration  and  Adventure  in  the  East. 


3 


Baker’s  Ismailia . 

Ismailia :  a  Narrative  of  tlie  Expedition  to  Central  Africa  for  the 
Suppression  of  the  Slave-Trade,  organized  by  Ismail,  Khedive 
of  Egypt.  By  Sir  Samuel  White  Baker,  Pasha,  M.A.,  F.R.S., 
F.R.G.S.,  Major-General  of  the  Ottoman  Empire,  late  Governor- 
General  of  the  Equatorial  Nile  Basin,  etc.,  etc.  With  Maps,  Por¬ 
traits,  and  upwards  of  50  full-page  Illustrations  by  Zwecker  and 
Durand.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $7  25. 

Lady  Blunt’s  Bedouin  Tr  ibes  of  the  Euphrates, 

Bedouin  Tribes  of  the  Euphrates.  By  Lady  Anne  Blunt.  Edited, 
with  a  Preface  and  some  Account  of  the  Arabs  and  their  Horses, 
by  W.  S.  B.  Map  aud  Sketches  by  the  Author.  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

Curtis’s  Nile  Notes  of  a  Howadji . 

Nile  Notes  of  a  Howadji.  By  George  William  Curtis.  12mo, 
Cloth,  $1  50. 

A  Naturalist’s  Wanderings  in  the  Eastern  Ar¬ 
chipelago. 

A  Narrative  of  Travel  and  Exploration  from  1878  to  1883.  By 
Henry  O.  Forbes,  F.R.G.S.,  etc.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth,  $5  00. 

Wallace’s  Malay  Archipelago. 

The  Malay  Archipelago :  the  Land  of  the  Orang-Utan  and  the 
Bird  of  Paradise.  A  Narrative  of  Travel,  1854-62.  With  Studies 
of  Man  and  Nature.  By  Alfred  Russel  Wallace.  With  Maps 
and  numerous  Illustrations.  New  Edition.  Crown  8vo,  Cloth, 
$2  50. 

Thomson’s  Malacca ,  Indo-China,  and  China. 

The  Straits  of  Malacca,  Indo-China,  and  China;  or,  Ten  Years’ 
Travels,  Adventures,  and  Residence  Abroad.  By  J.  Thomson. 
With  over  60  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

Burnaby’s  Bide  to  Khiva. 

A  Ride  to  Khiva:  Travels  and  Adventures  in  Central  Asia.  By 
Fred  Burnaby  (Captain  Royal  Horse  Guards).  With  Maps  and 
an  Appendix,  containing,  among  other  Information,  a  Series  of 
March- routes,  compiled  from  a  Russian  Work.  12mo,  Cloth, 
$2  00. 


4 


Valuable  Works  of  Exploration  and  Adventure  in  the  East. 


Thomson’s  Southern  Palestine  and  Jerusalem . 

\ 

The  Land  and  the  Book:  Southern  Palestine  and  Jerusalem.  By 
William  M.  Thomson,  D.D.,  Forty -five  Years  a  Missionary  in 
Syria  and  Palestine.  140  Illustrations  and  Maps.  Square  8vo, 
Cloth,  $6  00;  Sheep,  $7  00;  Half  Morocco,  $8  50;  Full  Morocco, 
Gilt  Edges,  $10  00. 

Thomson’s  Central  Palestine  and  Phoenicia. 

The  Land  and  the  Book:  Central  Palestine  and  Phoenicia.  By 
William  M.  Thomson,  D.  D.  130  Illustrations  and  Maps.  Square 
8vo,  Cloth,  $6  00;  Sheep,  $7  00;  Half  Morocco,  $8  50;  Full  Moroc¬ 
co,  Gilt  Edges,  $10  00. 

Thomson’s  Lebanon,  Damascus,  and  Beyond 
Jordan. 

The  Land  and  the  Book:  Lebanon,  Damascus,  and  Beyond  Jor¬ 
dan.  By  William  M.  Thomson,  D.D.  147  Illustrations  and  Maps. 
Square  8vo,  Cloth,  $6  00;  Sheep,  $7  00;  Half  Morocco,  $8  50;  Full 
Morocco,  Gilt  Edges,  $10  00. 

Thomson’s  The  Land  and  the  Booh. 

The  Land  and  the  Book.  Popular  Edition.  3  vols.  Copiously 
Illustrated.  Square  8vo,  Ornamental  Cloth,  $9  00  per  set.  ( Sold 
in  Sets  only.) 

MacGahan’s  Campaigning  on  the  Ox  us. 

Campaigning  on  the  Oxus  and  the  Fall  of  Khiva.  By  J.  A.  Mac- 
Gaiian.  With  Map  and  Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

Prime’s  Tent-Life  in  the  Holy  Land. 

Tent-Life  in  the  Holy  Land.  By  William  C.  Piiime.  Illustrated. 
12mo,  Cloth,  $2  00. 

Pike’s  Sub-Trojncal  Hambies. 

Sub-Tropical  Rambles  in  the  Land  of  the  Aphanapteryx  :  Personal 
Experiences,  Adventures,  and  Wanderings  in  and  about  the  Island 
of  Mauritius.  By  Nicholas  Pike.  Handsomely  Illustrated.  8vo, 
Cloth,  $3  50. 

Maegregor’s  Bob  Boy  on  the  Jordan. 

The  Rob  Roy  on  the  Jordan,  Nile,  Red  Sea,  and  Gennesareth,  etc. 
A  Canoe  Cruise  in  Palestine  and  Egypt,  and  the  Waters  Of  Damas* 
cus.  By  J.  Macgregor,  M.A.  With  Maps  and  Illustrations. 
Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 


Valuable  Works  of  Exploration  and  Adventure  in  the  East. 


5 


Bartlett’s  From  JEgypt  to  Palestine, 

From  Egypt  to  Palestine,  through  Sinai,  the  Wilderness,  aud  the 
South  Country.  Observations  of  a  Journey  made  with  Special 
Reference  to  the  History  of  the  Israelites.  By  S.  C.  Bartlett, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  President  of  Dartmouth  College,  and  lately  Professor 
in  the  Chicago  Theological  Seminary.  With  Maps  and  Illustrations. 
8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

Schliemann’ s  llios, 

Ilios,  the  City  and  Country  of  the  Trojans.  The  Results  of  Re¬ 
searches  and  Discoveries  on  the  Site  of  Troy  and  throughout  the 
Troad  in  the  years  1871-72— 1 73-78- ’79 ;  including  an  Autobiog¬ 
raphy  of  the  Author.  By  Dr.  Henry  Schliemann,  F.S.A.,  F.R.I. 
British  Architects ;  Author  of  “  Troy  and  its  Remains,”  u  Mycenae,” 
etc.  With  a  Preface,  Appendices,  and  Notes  by  Professors  Rudolf 
Virchow,  Max  Muller,  A.  H.  Sayce,  J.  P.  Maliaffy,  II.  Brugsch-Bey, 
P.  Ascherson,  M.  A.  Postolaccas,  M.  E.  Burnonf,  Mr.  F.  Calvert,  and 
Mr.  A.  J.  Duffield.  With  Maps,  Plans,  and  about  1800  Illustrations. 
Imperial  8vo,  Cloth,  $12  00 ;  Half  Morocco,  $15  00. 

Schliemann’ s  Troja, 

Troja.  Results  of  the  Latest  Researches  and  Discoveries  on  the 
Site  of  Homer’s  Troy,  and  in  the  Heroic  Tumuli  and  other  Sites, 
made  in  the  year  1882,  aud  a  Narrative  of  a  Journey  in  the  Troad 
in  1881.  By  Dr.  Henry  Schliemann,  Author  of  “Ilios,”  etc. 
Preface  by  Professor  A.  H.  Sayce.  With  150  Wood-cuts  and  4  Maps 
and  Plans,  pp.  xl.,  434.  8vo,  Cloth,  $7  50 ;  Half  Morocco,  $10  00. 

Myers’s  Remains  of  Lost  Fmpires. 

Remains  of  Lost  Empires :  Sketches  of  the  Ruins  of  Palmyra,  Nine¬ 
veh,  Babylon,  and  Persepolis,  with  some  Notes  on  India  and  the 
Cashmerian  Himalayas.  By  P.  V.  N.  Myers,  A.M.  Illustrated. 
8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

Cesnola’s  Cyprus, 

Cyprus  :  its  Ancient  Cities,  Tombs,  and  Temples.  A  Narrative  of 
Researches  and  Excavations  during  Ten  Years’  Residence  in  that 
Island.  By  General  Louis  Palma  di  Cesnola,  Member  of  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  Turin ;  Hon.  Member  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Literature,  London,  etc.  With  Portrait,  Maps,  and  400 
Illustrations.  8vo,  Cloth,  Extra,  Gilt  Tops  and  Uncut  Edges, 
$7  50;  Half  Calf,  $10  00. 


6 


Valuable  Works  of  Exploration  and  Adventure  in  the  East. 


Tristram's  Land  of  Moab. 

The  Land  of  Moab :  Travels  and  Discoveries  on  the  East  Side  of 
the  Dead  Sea  and  the  Jordan.  By  H.  B.  Tristram,  M.A.,  LL.D., 
F.R.S.,  Honorar3T  Canon  of  Durham.  With  a  Chapter  on  the  Per¬ 
sian  Palace  of  Mashita,  by  James  Ferguson,  F.R.S.  With  Map 
and  Illustrations.  Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  $2  50. 

Bayard’s  Discoveries  at  Nineveh . 

Discoveries  among  the  Ruins  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon  ;  with  Trav¬ 
els  in  Armenia,  Kurdistan,  and  the  Desert :  being  the  result  of  a 
Second  Expedition,  undertaken  for  the  Trustees  of  the  British  Mu¬ 
seum.  By  Austen  Henry  Layard,  M.P.  With  Maps,  Plans,  and 
Illustration.  8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00. 

Griffis’s  The  Mikado’s  Empire* 

The  Mikado’s  Empire.  History  of  Japan,  from  660  B.C.  to  1872 
A.D.,  and  Personal  Experiences,  Observations,  and  Studies  in  Ja¬ 
pan,  1870-1874.  New  Edition,  with  Supplementary  Chapters  on 
Japan  in  1883  and  1886.  By  William  E.  Griffis,  A.M.,  late  of 
the  Imperial  University  of  Tokib,  Japan.  Copiously  Illustrated. 
8vo,  Cloth,  $4  00 ;  Half  Calf,  $6  25. 

Newman’s  “From  Dan  to  Beersheba.” 

“From  Dan  to  Beersheba;”  or,  The  Land  of  Promise  as  it  now  Ap¬ 
pears.  Including  a  Description  of  the  Boundaries,  Topography, 
Agriculture,  Antiquities,  Cities,  and  Present  Inhabitants  of  that 
Wonderful  Land.  With  Illustrations  of  the  Remarkable  Accuracy 
of  the  Sacred  Writers  in  their  Allusions  to  their  Native  Country. 
By  the  Rev.  J.  P.  Newman,  D.D.  Maps  and  Engravings.  12mo, 
Cloth,  $1  75. 

Oliph  ant’s  China  and  Japan . 

Narrative  of  the  Earl  of  Elgin’s  Mission  to  China  and  Japan,  in  the 
Years  1857,  ’58,  ’59.  By  Laurence  Oliphant,  Private  Secretary 
to  Lord  Elgin.  Illustrated.  8vo,  Cloth,  $3  50. 

Curtis’s  The  Howadji  in  Syria . 

The  Howadji  in  Syria.  By  George  William  Curtis.  12mo, 
Cloth,  $1  50. 


Published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

VAT*  Harper  &  Brothers  will  send  any  of  the  foregoing  icorks  by  mail ,  postage  pre¬ 
paid,  to  any  part  of  the  United  States  or  Canada,  on  receipt  of  the  price. 


' 


DATE  DUE 

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PRINTED  IN  U.S.A 

